The Carolina Hurricanes are on a bit of a tear right now, but don’t let their recent play influence your impression of how good this team has been in 2018. The Hurricanes sit nine points behind the New Jersey Devils, who hold the second wild-card spot in the East.
Just a couple of weeks ago the Canes sat in playoff contention and have somehow misplayed their way back to sixth in the Metropolitan Division. Hurricanes’ Twitter has been blaming the coaching staff, calling for head coach Bill Peters’ job as of late, due to his apathetic and lazy decisions down the stretch.
However, Peters did seem to listen to the cries of the die-hard fans as he played forward Sebastian Aho at the center position in the team’s game against Arizona Coyotes earlier this week, and to no one’s surprise, he dominated the game with two assists. Another good decision that coach Peters finally made was not only calling up AHL sensation Valentin Zykov but actually playing him.
Zykov currently leads the American Hockey League with 32 goals while also leading the league with 16 power play goals and ranks 15th in points with 52. He has been insane and is getting national acknowledgment from the league. Unfortunately, to the fan’s collective frustration, Peters has opted not to call Zykov up more than a few games this season and the winger has just warmed the bench when he has been on the team. That all changed this week.
In Zykov’s first NHL game, he recorded two goals off of five shots finishing with a plus-minus rating of three. That is impressive as hell. Then in his second game, the man recorded two assists. Peters has been missing this kind of contribution for a majority of the season and the fact that he is just now playing Aho at center and starting Zykov is just a desperate measure that is coming too late.
This brings me to my main point: the simplest and easiest way for the Carolina Hurricanes to be successful is to call up the young guys from the Charlotte Checkers and to put Aho at center. In the team’s last two games with these lineup experiments, forward Jeff Skinner, who had not scored a goal since February 18, scored three goals. That is a definitive statistic that proves that putting Aho in the middle produces better offense.
The team has to basically win out at this point and hope that their opponents stumble in these last few weeks, which is highly unlikely. I pray to the hockey gods that Bill Peters does not go back to his stubborn ways and that he continues to put out the lines that have proven to work. Whether the Hurricanes miss out on the playoffs or not, Peters will likely be relieved of his duties this summer.
The most important game of the season will be every game from now on and the Cardiac Canes couldn’t face more pressure in their game against the Ottowa Senators tonight. If they want a chance to gain some ground in these tight standings, they must win this game. They clobbered Ottowa just days ago in a 5-2 hammering, so hopefully, the team will take advantage of a weak Senators team again. The game will be broadcast Fox Sports Carolinas at 7 p.m. eastern time.
They will then have to shift their focus quickly on an even more important contest coming tomorrow when they face off against the New Jersey Devils. The result of this game will either propel or bury the Hurricane’s playoff chances, so I half expect the team to get out to an outstanding lead and blow it in the third period. Regardless, I have will have a long and lengthy (happy or sad) article out next week depending on the outcome of that game. I will see you then.
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