Even in the worst 82 game season, the Washington Capitals have experienced in a long time, they still manage to bring up ghosts of the past when it comes to the Carolina Hurricanes. An absolutely unacceptably bad performance from the Canes sees the Capitals streak out of their own building with a 4-0 victory and leaves the Canes seeking an answer.
When the Hurricanes took to the ice, they looked completely outmatched in this one. On the first half of a back time back, the Carolina Hurricanes start it off with one of the worst performances we’ve seen going back to the dark days of the 10-year drought. It was completely unacceptable. For the second time this year, the Hurricanes fell to the Capitals.
Carolina’s penalty kill went into this game with their penalty kill at 89.9 percent, and that was hanging around the all-time record for the best penalty kill ever. In this one, the Hurricanes penalty kill was thrown under all sorts of pressure because the team was just outmatched at 5-on-5. Generating offense was seemingly a pipe dream and the defense was just exposed.
Martin Necas just cannot buy himself a goal right now. Countless chances fell for the Czech-born winger and in another game with a little more confidence, the Czech winger could have had himself a hat trick. It’s annoying but the fact chances are still coming to the 12th overall pick from 2017 and one will go eventually. It’s just a case of when. We have all seen Necas at his best and we know that he’s too talented to stay in the slump forever.
I know there are going to be some Canes fans that don’t want to hear this, but Carolina showed they’re really missing Tony DeAngelo in this game. It was exactly the kind of game you want a premier puck-moving defenseman for. When you can’t get out of your own zone, you need someone who can put the puck on a dime in the corner, and they missed that in this one.