Everything You Need to Know About the Carolina Hurricanes' State Fair Road Trip

With the North Carolina State Fair taking over Raleigh beginning on Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes will evacuate the area to play their next six games on the road. October has always been a road-heavy month for the Hurricanes to accommodate the fair, and this year is no exception. The Canes will play six games across 12 days before returning home to end the month.

Last season's State Fair trip left a lot to be desired. The Hurricanes won two of their first three games, a 6-5 shootout thriller against the Kings and a 6-3 victory over the Sharks. However, the trip ended with losses to Seattle, Colorado, and Tampa Bay as Carolina picked up only four of 12 possible points. They were outscored 30-23 on the trip, with the penalty kill allowing ten goals on 28 attempts.

Weekend Back-to-Back

The trip will begin on Friday night with the only division and conference game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins rebounded from an Opening Night 6-0 home loss to the Rangers by winning two of their next three on the road. Evgeni Malkin has started the season on fire for the Pens, notching six assists and seven points through their first four games. They'll play the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night before hosting the Canes on Friday and heading out on a Western Canada trip of their own.

The next night, the Hurricanes move west facing the St. Louis Blues. After a 2-1-0 road trip to begin the year, the Blues lost their home opener to the Wild on Tuesday night beginning a four-game homestand. Wild goalie Filip Gustafsson capped the 4-1 win for Minnesota by scoring the 18th goalie goal in NHL history. The Blues are already working through some injuries, while their goaltending tandem is struggling. However, their stars are producing offensively, led by Jordan Kyrou.

Trek to the Pacific Northwest

The remainder of the trip will be on the west coast, beginning with a doubleheader in Alberta. They'll start in Edmonton to face an Oilers team that didn't get out of the block strong after making it to the Stanley Cup Final in June. Edmonton combined for just three goals through three games before picking up a 4-3 overtime win over the Flyers on Wednesday. Connor McDavid and company will have two road games to find footing before the Canes come to town next Tuesday.

A few hours south, the Calgary Flames have been one of the biggest surprises to begin the season. Getting off to a perfect 4-0-0 start, Calgary's offense has been clicking, scoring nearly five goals per game. Jonathan Huberdeau's revitalization has been a big part of it, scoring six points in four games to tie Rasmus Andersson for the most on the team. Dustin Wolf has also been good, allowing just four goals on 72 shots through two starts.

The Hurricanes will make a quick trip stateside to face the Seattle Kraken. While the Hurricanes have seen decent success against the Kraken since joining the league in 2021, they've only won once in Seattle, doing so two seasons ago. The Canes' visit will be the final game of a five-game homestand for the Kraken, beginning on Thursday against the Flyers.

The final stop on the trip for the Canes will be in Vancouver to face the Canucks. Like Edmonton, Vancouver has gotten off to a slow start, losing their first three games, including their first two in extra time at home. The Canucks have started the season without Thatcher Demko, relying on Arturs Silovs and Kevin Lankinen until he's ready to return. Their offense hasn't been as lethal to start the season as last year, but it's still early.

A successful road trip would see the Hurricanes winning at least four games or earning no fewer than eight points. The easier part of the trip is arguably the back-to-back this coming weekend, especially with the firepower of the teams out west and the way their west coast trips went last season.

While I'm looking for everyone on the team to step up, I'm interested to see how Rod Brind'Amour opts to deploy his goalies during the trip. We'll likely see Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov this weekend, but will the split continue for the four games out west? Both goalies looked solid in their season debuts, with Andersen suffering the loss to Tampa Bay and Kochetkov standing tall against New Jersey.

For all of the Caniacs on the East Coast, the next week and a half is going to feature many long nights. Riding their 4-2 win over New Jersey on Tuesday, the hope is that the momentum will carry over into the trip. All I'm asking for is good hockey and to avoid the issues that plagued them on the road early last season. That will make the long nights well worth it.