5 Carolina Hurricanes players who must bring their A-Game to claim the lead in the Metropolitan
Brent Burns’ impeccable two-way approach must stay steady
Few players in the NHL are more impressive than Brent Burns at the moment. While the 38-year-old is no longer in his prime, he’s still averaging over 21 minutes per game in his 20th season. It shows us that he still boasts a lot of trust from coaches and front office personnel, and his play year has been more than serviceable.
Burns has 28 points and a plus-13 rating in 49 contests, and despite the Hurricanes goaltending not being the greatest, he’s still disruptive enough to prevent scoring opportunities. We see this with the Hurricanes on-ice shooting percentage sitting at 91.2 when Burns is on the ice at 5-on-5.
Although Carolina’s offensive zone starts sit at just 55.2 with Burns, they are finding ways to move the puck and to make things happen, evidenced with his 61.6 Corsi For percentage and 59.4 in the Fenwick. These are both tied for and are near career-bests since the 2007-08 season.
Further, Burns’ defensive point shares sit at 3.5, another sign that his two-way game has only helped Carolina. If he keeps this up, then the Hurricanes are that much closer to being a major force in the Metropolitan.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of Wednesday, February 7th)