Once far behind the middle of the pack of teams in the Eastern Conference and mostly left for dead, the Hurricanes just came around a corner and suddenly could see the pack of teams in front of them.
If you sort the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference right now, it goes something like this:
The big 7
Right now, there are 7 teams that are 6 or more games above .500. The group includes Florida, Detroit, Montreal, Boston, Washington, New York Isles and New York Rangers.
The pack of 5
Behind the lead pack, there are 5 teams that are either 3 or 4 games above .500. The group includes Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Philadelphia. If the season ended next week, this would be the battle royale for the last wild card spot.
2 still in
Carolina and Toronto are on the outside looking in right now, but are within reach with a ton of hockey games yet to go.
2 out
It is too early to declare things final, but at 7 and 9 games under .500 respectively, the hill that Buffalo or Columbus would need to climb to get back in it is real steep.
The biggest upshot for the Carolina Hurricanes is that on January 10, a full 10 days into 2016, the Carolina Hurricanes are still playing games that matter. That in itself is a hockey blessing!
The mathematical upshot is that the Canes are very much in the hunt, but that it will take a continued and extended run of strong play. With so many teams in the group in front of the Canes, at least some of the teams will match Canes wins, so for example tonight the Canes won but really did not gain much if anything with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Ottawa all winning (with Tampa Bay still playing).
But with just under half of a season yet to play, it is simply about continuing to play at the 8-5-1 pace of December or maybe just flipping an overtime loss to a win for the Canes 2-1-2 start to January.
Go Canes!
Well if we play at a 6-3-1 pace for the rest of the year (and assume that we go 5-3-1 in our last 9) that would put us at 23-12-4 in our last 39 good enough for 93 points. Not good enough to get in last year but good enough to have gotten in 2013-2014. It feels like that’s a lot to ask of this particular team even with the uptick in our play. If we play at an 8-4-1 pace in each of the remaining 13 game segments, that’s 52 points to close out the season and gets us to the mythical 95 points many feel are needed to make the playoff cut as a wildcard team. As much as I want to feel it, I’m not liking our chances. Still it will be a nice improvement and a nice run to the TDL. We shall see….
Oooops, bad math by the English major, 24-12-3 only gets us 51 points and a total of 94. Again, I think we end up falling short unless we go on a miraculous run.