Canes shut out by Red Wings and come crashing back to Earth

They did it again. A goaltender comes into a game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a .900 save percentage. Leaves with a 46 save shutout because of course he does. Why wouldn’t he? Carolina made another poorly performing goaltender look like one of the league’s best and it’s just not been good enough from that offense. This is meant to be one of the league’s best teams and they couldn’t get it done yet again.

Nedeljkovic played well, but the fact none of Carolina’s elite talents upfront could solve him is starting to become an alarming theme. With the former Hurricanes netminder being a major difference, Carolina was unable to get anything going once again and it cost them two points in a tight race at the top of the NHL standings. They’re starting to act like playoff pretenders heading into the big dance.

I can’t exactly talk about who scored as a silver lining, because no one beat the former Canes goalie. Not a single player on one of the best teams in the NHL could beat him. This is an organizational problem, they cannot score on middling goalies. They walk right into PNC Arena and know they’re about to receive a steroid injection to their numbers. Carolina makes all goalies look better than they are and that’s not a good thing. This could be their downfall in May.

I don’t even know what more there is to say? Another 46 save shutout for a goalie that’s not been on the same level as some of the others around the NHL. That’s a pretty good indication of what has happened in this game tonight. Poor shooting performance after poor shooting performance is sinking this team. Carolina once had a ten-point lead at the top of the Metro. It’s now just two and it’s not good enough.