After a break to recharge a bit, it is back to the regular Daily Cup of Joe post late at night and waiting for the early morning Canes fans. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2016, and that all of our Canes wishes come true!
With the New Year’s Eve exclamation point 3-2 win over the NHL-leading Washington Capitals, the Hurricanes closed out December with an impressive 8-5-1 record. If you project that over 82 games, it is a 107-point pace. Not bad huh?
January’s schedule is strange. The Canes wrap up a short 2-game home stand against Nashville on Saturday and then embark on what sets up almost like a 3-week road trip despite a few home games mixed in. The Hurricanes first play 2 games on the road way out west in Vancouver and Edmonton. The next 4 games are split 2 and 2 between home and road but with them being every other game, the Canes will be home only long enough to say ‘hi’ to loved ones and do laundry. The first home game is followed by a road game the next day, and the second 1 also sees the team quickly back on the road for the next 2 games. After a run of constant travel for 9 games after the Nashville game on Saturday, the Canes finally get a run of 3 consecutive home games starting on January 22.
The positive is that the Canes see a mix of games against beatable teams with 2 against Columbus, 2 against Vancouver, 1 against Edmonton and 1 against Toronto which makes 6 of the 9 games against teams either tied with or below the Hurricanes right now in terms of points. But as Thursday’s win against the Capitals shows, records do not determine outcomes of NHL games.
The timing is actually not bad for this strange stretch of schedule. The team is playing well right now which makes it possible to just focus on 1 game to the next hopefully without being affected too much by the haphazard scheduling.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Go Canes!
