On Thursday night, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Penguins in Pittsburgh and in resounding fashion by a 4-0 margin.
Not surprisingly based on the score, the game was an impressive one in many ways and had virtually nothing that one could even try to nitpick as a negative. But over the course of a long NHL season in a league with parity and also weird single game swings based on scheduling, backup goalies, injuries and the general ups and downs of each and every team, more often than not a win is just a win and two points which is a good thing obviously. But rarely does it represent much more than that.
Based on that, I try (and I think generally do a decent job) of not overreacting to single games no matter how horrible (the recent 8-1 loss the Maple Leafs) or how tremendous (yesterday’s 4-0 whooping of the Penguins on the road).
But as I already talked about briefly in the game recap which you can find HERE, I think this game has the potential to mean more and represent another key milestone and turning point in the Hurricanes in-process transformation from regular NHL draft lottery participant to regular NHL playoff competitor.
I say that because I think the game was a significant departure from the team’s struggles in recent years such that it represents a change in mentality, confidence and a bunch of other hard to measure but incredibly important intangible qualities that winning teams always seem to possess in some weird, fuzzy, hard to put a finger on aura of a way.
The kind of game that the NEVER seem to win
Perhaps it is just the tough times from eight straight years of playoff misses bubbling up to the top of my memory, but in games against good teams when the Hurricanes could really use a nice surprise and a win, the Hurricanes track record in recent years has not been good. Whereas good teams often find a way to win when they need to, the Hurricanes have too often found a way to lose games like this.
After a nice surge that boosted the Hurricanes into wild card position, the team had lost two straight and was staring at two really tough road match ups against Tampa Bay and Boston who are the strength of the Atlantic Division recently with roughly 80 percent winning percentages in their last 10 games. As such, the Hurricanes really needed a win to assure that the current skid was cut short and to stay at least in the treading water range for the tough schedule during the front part of January.
In addition, the game was on the road against a good (even if struggling a bit right now) hockey team in the Pittsburgh Penguins. Finally, the game was not the variety whereby the Hurricanes fly out of the gate with ease and the game looks easy like it does sometimes. Rather, the Penguins were better early and though the Hurricanes did do a decent job of matching pace and not giving up too much, the start seemed to suggest that the Penguins could have the upper hand on the night.
So in summary, the game was one of those that just seemed to have a deck of multiple small things stacked against the Hurricanes. But maybe uncharacteristically, the Hurricanes prevailed, avoided increasing duress from a growing losing streak and maybe even beat historical odds in the process.
The Hurricanes were better
Another thing that jumps out about the win has to do with my previous sentence when I said “…maybe even beat historical odds in the process.” When the Hurricanes did occasionally win a needed game like Thursday’s, it always felt like an upset. The games were often the variety where the Hurricanes got off to a good start and/or caught a couple breaks early and then ‘held on for a win’ or ‘survived’ or similar. The tone of how those games were described was always that of an underdog who was lucky to steal two points from a better team.
To be clear, the ultimate decision on who is best is made in making and winning in the playoffs, so a single game regardless of how impressive it was does not yield any kind of final verdict on the Hurricanes versus the Penguins. But even still, the way the Hurricanes won on Thursday was impressive. From the second period on, the Hurricanes were very clearly the better team. They took it to the Penguins throughout the second period. Maybe even more impressively, when the Penguins pushed briefly to start the third period, instead of going into a shell and entering cling to a lead survival mode, the Hurricanes counter-punched and knocked the Penguins out.
Thursday’s win was not the variety where the Hurricanes stole a game as an underdog, caught a few breaks early and held on or got lucky. They flat outplayed the Penguins which looks even more impressive when you add the fact that the Hurricanes are now 2-0 against the Penguins in 2017-18.
Swagger, confidence and attitude
Venturing into the fuzzy world of interpreting intangibles, my feeling from watching the vast majority of Hurricanes games for a long time is that the team could finally be developing the confidence and attitude of a winner.
When the Penguins were better for stretches of the first period, the Hurricanes did not seem flustered or under duress. They matched Pittsburgh for pace and compete level such that whatever advantage the Penguins gained was small.
Similarly, when the Penguins inevitably dialed up their intensity in an effort to push back into the game in the third period, the Hurricanes looked unflappable. Cam Ward did make a few saves to hold the fort, but the Hurricanes did not do the death spiral whereby they play the majority of the third period in survival mode. Rather, just like good teams do, the Hurricanes opportunistically counter-punched and put the game away.
I think some of this comes from the Hurricanes of 2017-18 being a much better and deeper team than in recent years such that they can better go toe to toe with good teams even when they dial their game up. But I also think some of it just comes from confidence and playing with the expectation of winning even during or after a tough shift.
Disclaimers
I will readily admit that the prospect of identifying games as turning points shortly after the end of a good game is treacherous. Those kinds of predictions are fraught with positive bias from overappreciating the most recent result during a long up and down NHL season. And it is also important to consider that the Penguins are still trying to find their game in 2017-18. The Penguins were 5-8 in their last 13 games, so it is not as if the Hurricanes knocked off a Penguins team that is playing anywhere close to an elite level right now.
What say you Canes fans?
Loading ...
Especially after sleeping on it and coming down off the high of whooping the Penguins in Pittsburgh, I would love to hear everyone else’s thoughts on whether this game was or at least could be something more than a single big win.
Go Canes!
Matt. The importance of Thursday’s game is dependent on Saturday’s game. As a tennis player and fan I have too often experienced the adage that “a break of serve is only a break if you hold the next game.” The Canes don’t necessarily have to dominate the Bruins, but they need to again play like a team that is equal to one of the best in the league while being on enemy ice.
I think they will–because of all the things you pointed out in this post and in the recap of last night’s game. The Canes now have multiple components that previous teams never seemed to have: at least two game-changing scorers (Skinner and Aho), six solid D-men who can also drive the play into the offensive zone, three forward lines that are hard to play against (as you mentioned in the game recap, Rask/Williams/McGinn are capable of slowing another team’s top line–I would add that Ryan/Lindholm/Skinner are consistently making plays), a goalie who inspires confidence in the other 18, special teams that are playing well throughout the game.
If the Canes play a solid game in Boston, regardless of the final score, then last night’s game will have been the next step toward the long-awaited playoff team.
I like the tennis analogy. Especially good and bad hockey games are quickly recategorized for significance based on what happens next. The Toronto loss was an utter catastrophe, but when the team rebounded with a good road win 2 days later in Nashville and then a few more wins, bit quickly became a mostly insignificant bad day. This also follows on my “don’t give back what was earned in December” theme for the tough 8-game stretch that started with the Blues game. (Canes are now off to respectable 1-1-1 start.)
Like I said in postgame I am converting from a playoff non-believer to believer soon under this kind of perfomances from the team but I am going to see, not only the next game, but the whole streak that has 5 games left before the bye-week. I am also going to see a few games after the break because last year I was like “what did you guys do on the vacation” because they had a good mode on before the break and slumped after.
It is imperative that the team gets this kind of experiences when all click 100% or close. So they know they have all the tools. Being their best game of the season PIT game will save some mental capital to the bank.
First things first: this was the most complete game of the season played on the road against a divisional opponent. It sure feels good to win a 4-pt game like that at this time of the season. (Let’s not talk about how good we think PIT actually is; for the record, though, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I think they are post-peak and in deep trouble.)
Having said that, since early/mid-December, this team has started to round into form. As we all know, the first ~25-30 games of the season were an emotional roller coaster: we’d have a great game (NYI, 4-2 W) followed by a clunker (NYR, 6-1 L), which would show the upside promise we expected after GMRF made the moves he did over the summer and then the reality of being young and inconsistent.
Since then, we’ve seen the team get better results. Our record over the last ~15 games is one of the best in the league, and it wasn’t until last night that we had the statement game that shows how much progress we’ve actually made since early December and how good we can be when all elements are clicking: the forecheck, the speed, the playmaking, the PK, the goaltending, etc.
I agree with ct, that the real proof of whether this is a turning-point game is whether we continue to be as tough to play against as we were last night, and that starts with the game in BOS. We’ll know whether our mindset has changed if we smell blood in the water and view ALL games as opportunities to gain ground in the standings. If we play like last night for a few weeks, they all are.
Last night’s shut out was terrific and the team has been on a productive points streak for the last couple of weeks. All of this is encouraging and hope that this is sign that the Canes can consistently play well. Also, hope that we can get Darling on track — we need him if we have eyes on the playoffs.
Although the current road trip is a challenging one, I eager to see what the Canes bring each night. Hopefully we can come out of the trip at .500.
Based on past years, I am not hanging my hat on anything at this point. I am very pleased with our standing in the league, but everyone is within a few points of one another. Last night’s shut-out needs to be followed by a strong 60 minute performance in Boston. The Canes need to have a chip on their shoulder tomorrow night and for the remainder of the season to show the league that we no longer belong at the kids table.
It was an important game. But they need to play strong the rest of this trip ,and avoid a repeat of last year, where they won 4 straight, then dropped 5 straight(4 vs. the Metro) in January.
I posted to the game recap before reading this… and had many of the same thoughts. However I think it is playing Washington that is the key. WAS appeared to play much faster than PIT (at least this week) and coming off of WAS speed and quality of play launched us like a missile into PIT. Although I thought it was a goofy schedule quirk coming in, the 3 games in 11 days against WAS may be exactly what the Dr ordered to get this team into a higher gear. If we continue to learn and improve with these WAS matchups – and translate the recipe for success into other games – we are on a great trajectory.
Upcoming games against BOS and TBL will also be big tests – I am very hopeful that we will continue moving forward and building on this improved play. The difference in forward movement away from the puck Tues to Thurs was significant – if that keeps up / continues building this will be a fun ride.
With the frequent mention of the TOR game in the last few columns, I read something very interesting in Luke DeCock’s piece today on Thomas Dundon. He was at the TOR game and when they got to Nashville he took just the players to TopGolf and had a lot of bonding time with the players there and over dinner and during various meetings with them on that trip. I am wondering how much that might have made a difference to the way the team has responded since TOR. BTW, find the piece and take the time to read it.
It is very good reading! And for those who haven’t seen an instagram clip from that TopGolf excursion I suggest you go see Aho’s swing posted on his instagram.