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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Following the massive 11-game winning streak and 17-game point streak, the Hurricanes hit a bit of a rough patch.
They suffered a four-game losing streak immediately after their long win streak came to an end, continuing right up until last Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. It was a consistent stretch of games that Carolina let slip away, blowing a lead in all four matchups. The series of losses also came despite the team only giving up more than 25 shots in one of those games, and scoring three goals in all four losses.
One factor was goaltending. Between Carolina’s netminders in Pyotr Kochetkov and Antti Raanta, the Hurricanes were consistently giving up soft goals, which were difficult to overcome. That said, we also saw more of the same issue that’s been a bit of a consistent over the last couple seasons, where sometimes Carolina can outplay their opponent, but just aren’t able to bury their chances.
That said, things got back on track last Thursday, with a big 6-2 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a game where the Hurricanes put together a pretty dominant performance, going up early and then outshooting the Blue Jackets by a large margin, before pulling away late.
It also marked the return of Frederik Andersen, which came at a key time, considering Carolina’s recent goaltending struggles. Andersen didn’t have a huge workload, facing only 23 shots, but was solid in the win and it marked the first time in six games the Hurricanes had allowed less than three goals.
The bad news: Max Pacioretty left in the first period with an injury and while it doesn’t seem to be serious, he did miss the next two games.
Carolina built on the win with another strong performance against Pittsburgh on Saturday. They got ahead early, put together a strong first 40 minutes, then hung on in the third period as the Penguins tried to mount a comeback. Pittsburgh’s been on a slide as of late but regardless, it was another close game against the Penguins and the penalty kill came up big, on route to a second win in a row.
It seemed like the Hurricanes were building a bit of momentum, and had an opportunity to go into the short break on a positive note, if they could beat the Vancouver Canucks at home.
Things looked good early, with Carolina getting off to a two-goal lead by the end of the opening frame. However, Vancouver clawed their way back and despite Carolina going back ahead late in the third period, Brock Boeser evened the game for Vancouver with only about 20 seconds to go. The Hurricanes then fell in a shootout from there.
So looking from a broader lens over the past couple weeks, the Hurricanes have been all over the place. After a bit of a frustrating losing streak, their last three games have been positive overall, picking up five of a possible six points.
I think in a glass-half-full kind of way, we can kind of isolate the loss to the Canucks maybe as just an unfortunate result, following a few strong games. On the other hand, it’s right in line with a lot of the losses we saw during the losing streak, where the Hurricanes were probably the better team, but just couldn’t get the job done.
The absences up front didn't help, and Jordan Staal and Max Pacioretty being out left holes in Carolina’s forward group. We know Staal will be in the lineup tonight though, and hopefully we see Pacioretty as well.
Looking ahead though, the return of Frederik Andersen couldn’t have come at a better time. With both Pyotr Kochetkov and Antti Raanta struggling, Carolina needed a bit of a breath of fresh air between the pipes and Andersen has put together two very solid starts (even despite the bad goal against Pittsburgh).
As a result, we saw Pyotr Kochetkov sent down to the Chicago Wolves. It's not an overly surprising development, considering it seemed unlikely that the Hurricanes would carry three goalies once Andersen returned. With Kochetkov in a bit of a slump as well, it may not be the worst thing for him to get a bit of time back in the AHL. It's always possible we do see the Hurricanes look to move a goalie and bring up Kochetkov. That said, given the injury history surrounding Andersen and Raanta, it's probably not a bad move just to keep Kochetkov as a third goalie for now, while he gets playing time in the minors. There's a good chance he could be called upon at some point soon.
Carolina's power play also continues to struggle. They didn't manage a single goal over the last four games on the man advantage, and their power play now sits 26th overall. For a team that hopes to contend, it remains a major issue this season. On the bright side, their PK has been very solid lately, even picking up some shorthanded goals.
On another note though, Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas have also both slowed down offensively over the last little while. Each player has just a single assist over the last four games.
That said, can you take a guess as to who’s tied for the team lead in points over the last 18 games? You probably weren’t thinking Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Obviously it’s a very cherry-picked timeline, but after a really slow start, Kotkaniemi has been making a much bigger impact lately, and it’s great to see.
As a result of the inconsistent stretch, the Hurricanes have lost ground for the lead of the Metropolitan Division. They’re now just a single point ahead of the New Jersey Devils, with the same number of games played.
At the same time, noting they’re *only* a point ahead of the Devils now for the Metro lead means there’s obviously a lot going right overall too. They’ve got two games coming up, where they’ll host the Minnesota Wild tonight, before taking on the New York Islanders on Saturday. We’ll see another break after that.
Picking up a couple wins would go a long way to helping the team continue to build back their momentum and maintain positioning within the division.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Canes win first game of 2023, beat Devils in shootout to extend streak
Hurricanes’ 11-game winning streak snapped in loss to Rangers
Canes register 67 shots but lose to Predators in Max Pacioretty's debut
Hurricanes fall to Blue Jackets in shootout for third straight loss
Brent Burns proving to be perfect fit with Hurricanes after offseason trade 
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