While the holiday season often brings people together during a time of family, presents, and tradition it’s also brought some mild success to the Carolina Hurricanes. An improved performance throughout last weeks games has provided hope that the rest of the season can provide some improved results.
The first signs of life came during an impressive 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs which snapped the team’s six game losing streak. The Hurricanes’ special teams provided a huge boost to the club scoring both a shorthanded and powerplay goal. It was the first win for the team in 16 days and it seemed to provide a breath of fresh area to the locker room.
Following the Toronto victory the team played a pair of games against the New York Rangers. The first game was one in which the Hurricanes knew they should have came away with the win. After battling back to take a third period lead the Rangers scored a backbreaking goal to tie the game with 2 minutes and 23 seconds remaining. Following a scoreless overtime period the Rangers would win in a shootout. The following came was a hard fought 1-0 win for New York with Carolina only being able to muster 18 shots on goal. The Hurricanes were able to get back in the win column with a 2-1 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils.
While none of these games showcased a breathtaking or overly dominate performance by Carolina they were a sign to not only the fanbase but the players that the team has the talent to be competitive on any given night. While a Stanley Cup may not be in the team’s immediate future everyone involved with the team in recent seasons would be pleased with this kind of improvement.
In order for the team to keep this bit of momentum going forward then its critical that the Hurricanes’ offense get in gear, One trend of this team this season has been its inability to score more than one or two goals in a game. Puck possession hasn’t been an issue during most games with the team out shooting their opponents on many nights. If the forwards can find more ways to finish these opportunities then the team’s chance of winning will dramatically improve throughout the rest of the season.
The teams defense and goaltending remain solid despite the lack of results and support from the scoring lines. Goaltender Anton Khudobin was able to pick up his first win of the season this week against the New Jersey Devils and may get some additional starts as the season progresses as Cam Ward has been given the majority of the starts so far this season.
While playing for seemingly nothing more than draft position at this point in the season it’s been a refreshing change for fans to see the Hurricanes gather some wins. Followers of the team have believed that the talent on this team is good enough to be a competitive team in the NHL and many are hopeful that the team can continue this level of play as the season continues in 2015.