The up and down 2017-18 season continued last week. After a hard-fought but still not good enough overtime loss to the Flyers to stretch the losing streak to three games, the Hurricanes rebounded with a pair of solid home wins over the weekend. That combined with recent struggles from most of the teams in the Metropolitan Division fray finds the Hurricanes currently sitting in playoff position and trending upward.
The Monday Coffee Shop will take on a similar theme with polls and discussions on the playoff outlook while we are enjoying sunnier days.
Carolina Hurricanes polls
Please remember to click ‘vote’ after each individual poll response.
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Discussion questions
1) What do you make of the weekend success? Is it just another gyration in what will continue to be a roller coaster ride of a 2017-18 season? Or could it be a turning point?
2) Is it possible that perhaps the biggest positive for the Canes playoff hopes is that the Metropolitan Division is not shaping up to be all it was cracked up to be earlier in the season? Is it possible that slightly better than treading water will be good enough to win the final wild card slot with a bunch of teams fading?
3) What is your outlook for the week ahead?
Go Canes!
1. We beat two teams we should have. Said this in the other thread, and nothing to take away from our wins during this home stand, but the majority of wins were against teams below us and/or against teams we were expected to beat.
2. The division is what it is. Our Achilles heel the last several years is being unable to take advantage of opportunities to catapult the standings. We are primed for a push and was hoping for some sort of additional ammo for these games (pending GMRF, of course). We are no better than the struggling Metro teams until we beat them consistently head-to-head. Which leads me to #3…
3. Points versus Kings is a plus, but Jersey and NYI games are vital.
1. The two wins on the weekend were needed to make the games this week relevant to getting a playoff slot. They act as somewhat of a cushion against an loss this week. No turning point though.
2. Forget trying to get in by treading water. We will need a winning streak of more than 3 games to build even the slightest cushion in a playoff slot or to maintain our current position. I don’t look for Columbus or the Islanders fading. They may tread some water (especially NYI), but not fade. Thus, if we tread water we will not be any better off than we are now. If we fade, forget it. We will be out of it.
1) Likely turning point. Look at the list of five “good things.” All five happened in both games. dmiller pointed out in another thread that the D was as good as any point this season. Combine that with both goalies playing well and Lindholm’s assists and Carolina suddenly looks almost identical to the team that recorded points for thirteen games in March.
2) Possible, but not likely. 93/94 points was always going to be close. I still see that as the requirement.
3) Three or four wins. The Canes might just be getting hot at the best time (Philadelphia, both NY teams and NJ have already had hot streaks—though Philadelphia look.
Two other good points. The penalty kill is much improved and the power play, while not scoring, was noticeably better than it was for much of the first half of the season.
Nothing has changed, just because you win against two teams we should have beaten, unless RF gets off his ass, we will probably lose to teams we should…!
Does anybody have any confidence Ronnie will do anything?
The win against Colorado was a good win against another bubble team. The next three games are also against bubble teams, and will be a good indicator if we are towards the top of the bubble or the bottom.
I don’t know if the metro slipped or the other divisions are picking up their games. It is an oddity in hockey that many coaches only focus on improvement after a loss, driving the pack towards .500. Of course the teams that separate themselves from the pack focus on the process of improving instead of the outcomes.