It is not a secret that the Carolina Hurricanes are an incredible team at home and have been for several years. They've only lost at the Lenovo Center six times this season, tied for the second fewest in the league. Their 17 wins are tied for the second-most, only trailing the Vegas Golden Knights. It has kept them in a good spot, but their road performance has left a lot to be desired.
Their record on the road began with an excellent 5-1-0 start during their journey west for the NC State Fair, including a sweep of Alberta and Vancouver. Since that trip in late October, the Canes are 4-10-2 with just two road wins over the last two months. At 9-11-2 overall, they are near the bottom of the league. They are one of three teams currently in the playoffs with a losing road record (Boston, Calgary).
It's not as if the Canes have been getting blown out on the road over their last 16 road contests either. In most of their games they've either led or been tied at some point during the 60 minutes. There have only been two games when I felt like the Canes were completely out of it. Those were the 6-0 loss to Florida after Thanksgiving and the 5-2 loss to Nashville before Christmas.
The Canes have been losing games in a variety of ways. They've been goalied a few times, like in Utah by Karel Vejmelka. They've blown leads in both shootout losses to Columbus. Offensive spurts in the second period by the Avalanche and the Islanders cost them those games. The Tampa loss was a heartbreaker in the final minute. The one constant with Carolina is that there is no constant.
Never are the Canes' struggles more evident than when looking at their goalies' numbers, especially the backups. Pyotr Kochetkov has been fine, sporting a .500 record with numbers slightly below where you'd like to see them. Spencer Martin and Dustin Tokarski are a combined 0-5-1 with an .829 save percentage and a GAA near 4.50.
Obviously, this trend is concerning. Under Rod Brind'Amour, the Hurricanes have been an excellent road team during the regular season. They've consistently been in the Top 10 in the league in road points percentage over the last six seasons. The Canes were tied for the third-most road wins a season ago, winning 25 of their 41 games.
The road issues start to rear their ugly head once the playoffs roll around. Excluding the 2020 bubble, the Canes are 10-21 on the road. If you take the Islanders out of the picture, they're 5-19. Year after year, it seems the Hurricanes hit a wall in the playoffs, forcing them to be nearly perfect at home to survive more than a round or two.
So, what is the solution to their road struggles? I have no clue. Saying they need to "score more goals" or "play better defense" is much easier said than done. This isn't an issue that is solved by bringing in another scorer or a better goalie. It will likely begin with their established stars playing like stars, no matter who is on the other side.
The Hurricanes better figure something out quickly because the remainder of their schedule is a near-even split between home and road games. The end of their season is particularly road-heavy, playing ten of their final 16 away from Raleigh. Winning at home has become borderline expected, but it doesn't matter if they're losing on the road at this rate.