9 days ago the Carolina Hurricanes came pretty close to upsetting the surging Washington Capitals in Raleigh. Since then the Capitals have increased their string of wins to 9 straight, and the Caps have lost in regulation only once in the past 18.

Needless to say, the Canes 4-2 win on Thursday night on the last day of 2015 was an impressive 1. The Canes carried the play throughout and played arguably their best period of the season in the second period despite not bursting loose for a bunch of goals to prove it.

Eric Staal scored another big goal and the Canes kids did not look out of place playing against the league’s best. With the win, the Canes pushed to a solid 8-5-1 in December which makes for an interesting start to 2016. Not to be missed is how important of a win these holiday games are for the faithful fan contingent.

 

A few player notes:

 

1) Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg

Eric Staal did notch his third goal in the past 2 games, and his tally on Thursday to stake the Canes to a 2-1 lead was a huge 1. But the scoring totals are actually low relative to how well this duo has been recently.

 

2) Eddie Lack and Bill Peters

I disagreed early and often with Coach Bill Peters delay in getting Lack a longer-term run in net, but in terms of individual game decisions for who plays goalie, Peters has been spot on a couple times. He handled a few back-to-backs unconventionally with successful results and got a win out Lack on Thursday. It was 1 of Lack’s better games of the season. He was tested sporadically by the Caps and despite hitting frantic mode a couple times, he made big saves when asked and held on late.

 

3) Phil Di Giuseppe

His goal off the rush on a good but not perfect Nordstrom pass is the poster for why it is so important to have skill and scoring potential from the depth players in the lineup. On nights when scoring is hard to come by, having more options can sometimes be the difference. It was on Thursday. His skilled finish to notch the Canes first goal was obviously a huge 1.

 

4) Chris Terry

Despite not being rewarded on the score sheet, I thought he had 1 of his better games of late. He seemed to make a save for Washington on the goal mouth scramble in the second which is obviously unfortunate, but the basic work of going to the crease and helping create havoc was exactly what was needed (and certainly asked) with Grubauer in net. He had another screen later and a decent chance of the rush that Grubauer snagged with his glove.

 

5) Mostly good with a littel bit of growing pains from the kids on D

Overall, I think Pesce and Hanifin are learning to play together after a slow start. In general, they performed admirably against a high-powered Capitals team, but then late in the third came the reminder that they are still kids who are learning on the job. When Pesce was pressured and had a pass deflected, and Hanifin failed to act assertively to just whack the puck out from between the circles before things got worse, sure enough the puck found Ovechkin who quickly capitalized on the big ‘oops’ and turned a 3-1 lead into a 3-2 white knuckler for the last 5 minutes.

In the ever-rotating story of hockey goodness that is the future (and present) of the Hurricanes blue line, the latest greatest news is the rise of Jaccob Slavin. Much like Pesce earlier in the season, he is suddenly playing top 4 minutes with top 4 match ups without looking like he is in over his head.

The future looks more and more promising every day for the future of the Carolina Hurricanes defense.

 

6) Jeff Skinner

His goal was big when he scored it and became even bigger after the Hanifin/Pesce ‘oops’ set up Ovechkin to cut the lead to 3-2.

Like a vast majority of prolific NHL scorers Jeff Skinner is streaky. He scores in bunches like he just did. And he has stretches where he is quieter. Some people will grumble about Skinner when he does not score for a stretch of a few games and start harping about consistency. I come at Jeff Skinner and is development in a different way. I think the scoring might always be streaky – it is just how it works. The part where I want to see the consistency is in the broader game. If he can carry the team for stretches of 4 games here, 6 games there, etc. offensively and then very importantly not be a liability on the slow score sheet nights, he will be a net positive player. And that is exactly what he is doing so far during the 2015-16 season. We can quibble about exactly how many points is enough and grumble when he hits a cold stretch, but the path he is on is much-improved and the heading in the right direction.

 

Next up is a a brand new month and a home game against Nashville on Saturday.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR CANIACS!

 

Go Canes!

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