On the back of a hard-fought but not pretty win in Toronto on Thursday night, the Carolina Hurricanes take to the ice again tonight in snowy Raleigh, North Carolina against the New York Rangers in the second of 4 games in 6 nights sprinting to the NHL all-star break.
The biggest story is how the Canes continue to push deeper into the season still with the pack of teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference still within reach. To adjust for games in hand, I make my standings based on games above .500. (That more or less adjusts for games in hand by making them worth a point which is decent rough math. A playoff pace is only slightly more with 95ish points in 82 games.) By those measures the Canes enter Friday’s game at plus 2 and are 3 points behind the Flyers and Devils who are tied for the last playoff spot at plus 5. With both of those teams out of action on Friday, the Canes could pull to within 2 points adjusted for games played with a big win on Friday.
That in itself is a success story for the 2015-16 season.
I wrote earlier this week about the importance of this 4-game stretch and especially the Toronto game with a tricky schedule following that. You can find that post HERE. Friday’s game sets up as a tough 1 on paper. Since winning the season series in 2010-11 with a 2-0-2 mark against the Rangers, the Canes have beaten the Rangers only once and are a miserable 1-12-5 against the team. And to make matters worse, the Rangers were resting in a Raleigh hotel last night while the Canes were trekking back through customs and from Toronto and landing home in Raleigh at about 2am.
With a goal of going at least 2-1-1 over this 4-game stretch, a person could easily write this game off as the 1 loss. But that is not necessarily the path of the 2015-16 Hurricanes. Just by being in a position where this game matters, the Hurricanes are doing things that were not supposed to happen in 2015-16. Against that backdrop, the Hurricanes will take the ice with a ‘find away’ / ‘any kind of win is a good win’ mentality and try to claim a point or 2.
With that, here is what I’m watching for Friday night at what looks to be an iced-in PNC Arena:
1) Eddie Lack
He was the single best player in Thursday’s win. Aside from Jordan Staal, the Canes were not great, even defensively, in their 1-0 overtime win the Maple Leafs. The team competed, but there were too many defensive breakdowns and not enough real good scoring chances despite a decent volume of shots. Eddie Lack was the difference in the game and more or less stole 2 points on a sluggish and sloppy night. Hopefully he gets more help on Friday, but playing the second half of a back-to-back against a good team, he will need to be solid if not better for the Canes to pull out a win.
2) Jordan Staal’s line
Jordan Staal continues to be the Canes best forward night in and night out. His line is scoring some, but more significantly their ability to dominate possession and tilt the ice into the offensive zone has recently had the ability to drive 2 shifts (which is half to two-thirds of the game) of offensive possession when they play their shift cycling the puck in the offensive zone and their opponents have to dump the puck from center for a change after a long shift. With the Canes offense struggling a goal or 2 would be nice obviously, but if they can continue to tilt the ice for nearly half of the game, it keeps things even and sets the table for other lines to play offense too.
3) A rebound defensively
After a run of play starting in early December in which the Canes defense increasingly tightened, the play of late has been characterized by some real sloppy efforts and too many of the bad, scoring chance immediately follows, type of breakdowns and turnovers. The Rangers recent formula for beating the Canes of late has been to play a fairly tight game and let Lundqvist handle whatever volume of low-quality chances the Canes want to take while sitting and waiting for a couple mistakes that lead directly to Rangers goals. With a lead, they tighten things up even more, and it becomes real difficult to come back. The Canes do need to generate more offense somehow, but if they go about trying to do it by taking chances and making a couple mistakes in the process, the Rangers will prey on them. The key on Friday is to be sound and patient, especially in the back-to-back scenario.
4) Heroes rising up
I said in yesterday’s preview that it was that time for a hero or 2 to rise up and carry the team. That is exactly what happened yesterday. 2 players, Jordan Staal and Eddie Lack, were good enough for a win despite a lackluster effort overall. I wrote last night that I think a Canes surge into February could recall a trip back in time to when the second half of the season usually saw Eric Staal surge. Tonight would be a good night for the team in total to tighten things up a bit defensively and also see a hero rise up to turn an even game into a win. Eddie Lack again? Jordan Staal riding a hot streak? Is it Eric Staal’s time? Is Justin Faulk due to break through a quieter stretch with a huge goal or 2? Is it time for another Jeff Skinner rising?
The puck drops at about 7:07pm seemingly regardless of the weather challenges at PNC Arena if you can get there or otherwise on Fox Sports with John, Tripp and Michelle.
Go Canes!
