It is playoff push time in the NHL and teams across the league are either really getting into a rhythm or starting to panic uncontrollably. As you would imagine, the Hurricanes are on the negative side of this ultimatum.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the midst of a five-game losing streak that not only has disrupted their momentum but is really starting to hurt their playoff chances. While the steadfast Canes only lie three points out of the second Wild Card spot behind the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets, it is crazy to think how good a position the team could be in if they actually had been winning games, but these things are fairly normal in the ridiculous Metropolitan Division.
As part of this losing streak, the Pittsburgh Penguins handed the Hurricanes a 6-1 loss at home this past Friday night. Every year I make it a point to take a journey up to Raleigh to see at least one Pens game, as my brother attends N.C. State University. A couple of my buddies from high school and I will make the annual venture together and make a weekend out of the game. As a precursor, I still have yet to see the Hurricanes win a game I have attended, with my overall record at Canes’ games being a cool 0-9.
The experience I had over the weekend was identical to how the Hurricanes performed on the ice and how they have performed in the standings.
To keep the confidentiality of my friends’ identities, I will be using fake names for this story.
On our way from the parking lot to the arena, we were all having a merry time, yelling chants and trying to guess the score of the game (the last Penguins vs. Hurricanes game I attended finished with a final of 7-1). There were seven of us in total attending the game, with six of us being Canes fans, as one of my friends, Dave, happens to be a Penguins fan. We all make sure to give him a hard time the entire game while also being slightly physically aggressive with him as well.
As we were making our way to the arena, my friend Charles made the unfortunate mistake of hitting Dave just a tad too hard in the stomach area. He was unaware that Dave has a medical condition involving his kidneys that make them very sensitive and fragile. Well, Charles ended up hitting Dave so hard that he ultimately bruised his kidneys and gave him internal bleeding, all before we were even in line for tickets.
None of us were sure what was going on when Dave began vomiting all of the alcoholic beverages he had consumed, but we soon realized that is was kidneys. Once we finally made it into the arena, Charles bought Dave a bottle of water and we just sat down. He wasn’t feeling any better by puck-drop, so he went to find the medical tent. He was gone for the entirety of the first two periods.
While he was gone, the two teams battled it out on the ice in what was a very entertaining first period. It was a pretty back-and-forth period, with each team showing good chances up front. Ultimately, Jake Geuntzel was able to snipe one in for the Penguins making it 1-0 at the first break.
The second period got heated quickly as the Penguins added to their lead just 46 seconds in after a goal from Olli Maatta. That usual feeling of early defeat was only held by the Canes for a short time though, as Teuvo Teravainen responded only minutes later with a goal that was more luck than skill. You could feel the spirit return to the crowd and you could almost hear every fan say, “Yea. This is possible. We can do this”.
Unfortunately, those words were not the truth, as Phil Kessel tacked two more on for the Penguins before he entered the locker room for his mid-game cheeseburger. So, with a 4-1 deficit at the second intermission, it felt like a standard Canes game for me. Sometime in the break, Dave came back and informed us he has just spent two hours sleeping on the floor of a conference room dubbed as “The Silent Room” somewhere in the offices of PNC Arena. He seemed better than he did the last I saw him, but his demeanor was expressive of how much pain he was in, just like the demeanor of every Canes fan in attendance.
Dave actually sat with us for the whole third period and got to witness the Penguins officially put the nail in the coffin with a goal each from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, solidifying not only the Canes defeat but the defeat of our friend group trying to have a good weekend. Our voices were hoarse, our confidence was shaken, and our spirits were down after a game where the Hurricanes mustered up one of the worst offensive performances I have seen in a while.
Early in the morning that next day, Dave asked my friend and me to take him to the ER, ultimately solidifying the weekend as a bust. While it was a weekend to forget, I won’t be forgetting the game.
Cam Ward started in net, but don’t let the six goals allowed make you think he had a bad game, it was a team effort. Jeff Skinner and the rest of the offense produced little to no effort and the defensive line combinations could not have produced a worse result.
It is moments like this that separate the Hurricanes from the elite. Head coach Bill Peters refuses to mix up his lines even when he has found success by making changes in the past, like when he put Sebastian Aho at the center position. It is the playoff push and you have to make risky and innovative decisions to succeed, not continue to use the same hum-drum strategy that has gotten you to a measly 27-25-10 record.
The Hurricanes finally seem to have some players that look to be franchise material, but when you allow your divisional rivals to molly-whop you on your home ice on a Friday night, no team in the league is going to take you seriously.
It is time for the Canes to nut-up or shut up or else they too might be leaving the season early for a trip to the ER (My friend ended up being fine and all is well).
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