The Carolina Hurricanes have been trying to figure out their game this season. And fans are too. Carolina’s beginning of the season was a rollercoaster of results mostly opposite of the Hurricanes expected potential. Then a disastrous road trip through Western Canada put doubts into many areas of Carolina’s game this year. For many, it may have been one of the lowest points for the Hurricanes in the last few years. Goaltending was sub….well no it was bad. Antti Raanta spent time in the AHL while trade rumours surrounding the search for goaltending ignited like a barrel fire.
But now, Carolina has turned it around almost on a dime. The Hurricanes latest stretch of success with five wins in a row and a six-game point streak showed the potential this team has. There are always areas for improvement but let’s take a look at some of the things that went right for Carolina over that stretch in this two-part article. Part 1 will look at some individual positions that have catapulted the Hurricanes on-ice success.
The Hurricanes Success During their Recent Six Game Point Streak
The Hurricanes started turning things around before the holiday break, but we are going to mostly focus on what they have done since then. Carolina had just come off of a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders. It was a somewhat off night for Pyotr Kochetkov but then the break followed.
The team returned right away to face the Predators in Nashville where they took a 5-2 win. They then came back home to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 the next night. It was Antti Raanta‘s first game back since being demoted to the AHL. The next three were on the road where the Hurricanes impressively took down the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Washington Capitals. The final matchup was a return home to take on the St. Louis Blues. Raanta was in net again and they ultimately lost 2-1 in a shootout. As much as Raanta has looked off this year, he played very well in that final game.
With five wins and one shootout loss, Carolina climbed their way back up to second in the Metropolitan Division. They certainly had a stretch to be proud of, but it was not all a patch of roses. Each of Martin Necas, Stefan Noesen and Jesper Fast missed time due to injury or illness. Noesen only missed one game due to illness but Fast and Necas remain out with their return to be decided.
Against the Capitals the team went to an 11-7 setup, but Tony DeAngelo didn’t provide much in his time back. He had very limited ice time. But it was actually Vasiliy Ponomarev who made a splash in his first NHL game. With a goal and an assist against the Capitals, it was a night he won’t forget. In addition to the injuries, Carolina’s success in overtime and the shootout continued to struggle. While that could be a story to analyze itself, we will focus on the positives here.
With some time off, hopefully the team can rest and heal. While avoiding rust will be key, some time off seems like a welcome gift for the team right now. But let’s take a look at a lot of the things that went right for Carolina recently. And things that they should keep up for further success this year and beyond.
Goaltending Takes a Turn
While many disagreed as to how much of a factor the team’s poor goaltending was contributing to Carolina’s inconsistency early, it was no doubt that goaltending was bad to start this year. The team wasn’t great but they just couldn’t seem to get a save even though they were limiting shots. Then they got unfortunate news that Frederik Andersen would be out with blood clotting issues. Nothing seemed to be going well.
After the Western Canada road trip, Carolina’s goalies were last in SV% with .867. Raanta was at the bottom of the NHL in SV% with .861 and Kochetkov was close with .873. For advanced stats, both were in the bottom ten goalies in the league when it came to goals saved above expected with -7.3 each in that category.
Then Pyotr Kochetkov started to really pick up his play. And he started to look like the goalie Carolina hoped he would be. He was making saves and really standing tall for the team. It became such a major turning point for the team and a huge reason that Carolina started finding some consistency. Then you look at his aggressive, poke-checking and athletic style and you could tell he was starting to have fun again. Over the last six-game stretch, Kochetkov played in four. In those games, he had a .936 SV% with a 1.75 GAA. He never let in more than two goals and won all four. His play of late brought his SV% for the year over .900 and it keeps trending in a good direction.
But Raanta returned from his AHL stint with a lot of people wondering what to expect. The game against Montreal wasn’t lights out, but he did enough to win. Unfortunately for Raanta, he played great against St. Louis but the team failed to cash in. While he still sits at the bottom of the league statistically this year, those last two games saw Raanta get a .907% SV% with a 1.92 GAA. He looked like his old self against the Blues and the fans at PNC Arena were showing their support in an effort to get him back. It’s a small sample size, but if Raanta is back to just average goaltending, and Kochetkov keeps up his stellar play, this could be big for Carolina this year.
Star Power Ignites
So much has been said about Carolina’s star players of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov lately. Rod Brind’Amour went back to a first line of Svechnikov, Aho and Teuvo Teravainen (the “SAT” line) and it has paid dividends. With the exception of the St. Louis game, Aho and Svehnikov both produced points in every game in the team’s last six. And they produced a lot.
Together they put up nine goals and 27 points in the last six games. Aho led the team in points with 15. This included a three-game stretch of four points, four points, and three points. It also included an NHL first star of the week award.
Svechnikov caught fire and led the team in goals with seven. He too had a six-game multi-point streak extending before this six-game stretch. A lot of their connection came on the power play (discussed in Part 2) but they still were making plays 5v5. They combined for four goals and ten points at 5v5 play.
While Carolina relies a lot on scoring by committee and having everyone engaged, the question remained if they had anyone that could be relied upon to be a difference-making goal scorer. You can’t expect these two to continue this rate of play forever, but they showed that the ability to be game-changers is there. Both are still relatively young and Carolina has been wanting them to keep progressing. If some resemblance of this play continues, this could be a big year for the top tandem. And if they can keep it up in the playoffs, that might be a difference-maker for the team.
Brent Burns Returns
With all of the buzz about Aho, Svechnikov and Kochetkov over the Hurricanes latest stretch of play, there is one player who has stepped back into form when the team needed it. This is the big offensive defenceman in Brent Burns. Hurricanes fans know what Burns brings, on and off the ice. On-ice, he is a towering presence with surprisingly good hands and a booming shot. Last season, he broke franchise records by putting up 18 goals and 43 assists. He was a huge part of Carolina’s on-ice success. Off the ice, he is a mix of a “wild man” who likes to carry his own coffee maker in his bookbag with a workaholic in the gym. At age 38 with iron man status, it’s no doubt that his Brind’Amour like work ethic keeps him going.
But this season, he started off rather slow. Both statistically and physically on the ice. He seemed to be missing a step and somewhat out of sorts with turnovers and errant passes. He really wasn’t bad, but as a top two defenceman on a team known for a deep defensive core, he wasn’t really up to par.
However, along with the rest of the team picking it up, Burns all of a sudden seemed to start finding his game. Between opening night and the holiday break, Burns had five goals and nine assists. He also had 17 giveaways. Burns had the most expected goals for on the team during that span at 42.4 but also the most expected goals against at 36.43. His actual goals for was 48 while his actual goals against was 38. Again, not bad but not quite where he’d like to be.
Since the holiday break, Burns has had three goals and six assists in six games. He still had five giveaways but they have seemed less impactful than some of his previous ones. His expected goals of 8.86 compares to his 16 actual goals for while on the ice, which is second on the team during that span. Meanwhile, his expected goals against of 4.34 compares to his three actual goals against while on the ice.
These numbers just back up the point that Burns has been rolling lately. You can see it in his play on the ice. He is playing with more confidence and doing what he does best. Pinching in offensively when needed and generating offence from the point on the first power play unit (discussed in Part 2). A working Burns is a good thing for Carolina’s game no matter what point of the season or the playoffs and will be important for the team down the road.
As we went through some individual players and positions in this Part 1, stay tuned for Part 2 as we look at some other stories that surfaced during this stretch of play showing the Carolina Hurricanes potential.
Main Photo Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
