The Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from the NHL playoffs yesterday, losing 2-1 to the Boston Bruins in Game 5.
Despite the loss, I thought this was one of Carolina’s better games of the series. They were right in it, they had good chances, especially in the first period, and overall, it was a close game.
Petr Mrazek made some great saves and had a really strong performance. But that second goal is exactly why I’ve been down on Mrazek this season. He can make some excellent saves and at times, he can make a difference for his team. Then he just loses focus and lets in a goal that should just never go in. Despite how well he played, it’s frustrating because if he was actually able to maintain focus and consistency, he could be so much better.
It was a disappointing way for the Hurricanes to end their year and you do have to wonder if things would’ve gone differently if they had been able to keep their lead in Game 4. But at the same time, they were missing one of their best defensemen in Brett Pesce and one of their best forwards for the last two games of the series, in Andrei Svechnikov.
The Hurricanes are still a very young team and I think they’re really close to being a contender. Andrei Svechnikov took huge steps this season, while Martin Necas had a great rookie year. There’s so much to like about this team and they’re only getting better.
There are still questions to answer in terms of which players have now played their last game with the team and what changes will be made in the offseason. But despite the way the year ended, there were a ton of positives this season and the future looks bright for Carolina.
Aside from the game, I wanted to thank everyone for following along and reading my articles this season. Like all of you, I look forward to watching this team in the years to come.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Hurricanes Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Canes for updates on articles, Hurricanes news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you view this as a successful season for the Hurricanes?
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