With only 17 games remaining, today’s Daily Cup of Joe breaks down the rest of the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2018-19 regular season schedule.
Two weeks of recharge and road trip (5 games)
Coming out of the road win at Florida on Saturday, the Hurricanes have an odd stretch of schedule with a healthy helping of off days but also two pairs of back-to-backs. The teams plays only four times in 12 days from March 3 to March 14. But the level of competition dials up. Three of the the opponents (Boston, Nashville, Winnipeg) are certain playoff teams, and the fourth (Colorado) is still in the hunt. The stretch has three different runs of two or more off days which is odd in March. A fifth game also on the road against Columbus finishes off this stretch.
After lacking energy and any kind of jump against Florida in the second half of a back-to-back and having four more back-to-back sets for 8 out of the 17 remaining games, the lighter stretch of schedule over the next two weeks could be critical to recharging for the stretch run.
Home sweet home with a bunch of four-point games (8 games)
After the stretch of five out of six on the road, a long home stretch starts with the second half of a back-to-back. The Hurricanes then play four straight and seven out of eight at home. In that mix are four Metropolitan Division games including a home and home against the Capitals. There is also a game against fellow wild card contender Montreal. The first game is the second half of a back-to-back, but after that the Canes play exactly every other day for 7 straight games.
With the volume of home games and match ups against division foes, I really think this stretch of eight games is where the season is decided. If the Hurricanes continue to play well and can take advantage of home ice, virtually no travel and an every other day rhythm, I think this when they seize a playoff berth. If instead, the Hurricanes run out of gas and falter here, making up ground afterward will be tough.
On the road to finish up (4 games)
The Hurricanes then finish the season with three of four games on the road. The first game against the Penguins could be a huge game #79 if the standings are similar. That last week does feature a home game against New Jersey for game #81 and a road tilt in Philadelphia to close out the season. Hopefully, the Flyers will stay outside the playoff chase making both of those games against teams mostly playing out the string at that point.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Which stretch of 3-5 games will be most critical in determining the outcome of the Hurricanes 2018-19 regular season?
2) Of the schedule ahead which stretch most concerns you?
Go Canes!
The old hockey saying “the only important shift in the future is your next one” applies for the rest of the season. While we can take the luxury of looking ahead, the team can’t. The real question is can the team maintain the desperation needed at this point of the season. The integrity of the culture change attempted this season will be tested. We just need the “Whalers” to pull one out tonite and not get ahead of ourselves. Are there any cliches I’ve missed?
Which 3-5 game stretch is the most important? The next 3-5 game stretch. It’s also the stretch that concerns me the most. 6 points over this stretch would be huge.
What’s so hard is that there are maybe 2 games out of 17 remaining that you’d qualify as “SHOULD definitely win” (a fading BUF on Mar 16 and New Jersey on Apr 4). Every other game is against playoff or near playoff teams. This is not going to be easy, but it might be enough to win half of the games until the final stretch. 9 wins is probably needed. 10 wins you would think assures the playoffs. Here’s how I could see Canes winning 10:
Beat Colorado and one of the 3 other teams. 2-2
Tue, Mar 5 @ Boston L
Fri, Mar 8 vs Winnipeg W
Sat, Mar 9 @ Nashville L
Mon, Mar 11 @ Colorado W
Beat BUF and one of Columbus or PIT. 2-2
Fri, Mar 15 @ Columbus L
Sat, Mar 16 vs Buffalo W
Tue, Mar 19 vs Pittsburgh W
Thu, Mar 21 vs Tampa Bay L
Split games with Washington and beat both MIN and Montreal. 3-1
Sat, Mar 23 vs Minnesota W
Sun, Mar 24 vs Montreal W
Tue, Mar 26 @ Washington L
Thu, Mar 28 vs Washington W
Split games with Philly and win at Pit. 3-2
Sat, Mar 30 vs Philadelphia W
Sun, Mar 31 @ Pittsburgh W
Tue, Apr 2 @ Toronto L
Thu, Apr 4 vs New Jersey W
Sat, Apr 6 @ Philadelphia L
I think the season may be decided on that March 31 game at PIT.
Not going to over think this. Just going to enjoy the ride!
The next three games are critical – Boston is a beast right now and WPG and NSH are solid WC teams. Having crossed the boundary to being (barely) a playoff team, how do handle these three games. That said, I think it goes to the penultimate week for the most critical sequence of games.
As to what concerns me – it is not really a “stretch”, but it is the number of back-to-backs with away games at NSH and PIT as the second games.
I think the key is to win all the 4 point games and as many of the rest as possible.
Games against the Pens and CBJ are crucial.
games against the Caps are important, they are not that far ahead of the Canes.
Games against the Flyers and Devils need to be won somehow, hopefully by the time we play the Flyers they are out of contension and are playing out the string.
I expect only 2 points out of the next 3 games but hope for 4, but after that the team needs to get its collective excrements together for one more push into playoffistan.
That bunch of jerks can do it.