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The Carolina Hurricanes remain atop the Metropolitan Division after back-to-back wins this weekend, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on Saturday, before taking down the New York Islanders 2-1 yesterday.
Both were really promising, well-rounded victories, being the exact kind of games the Hurricanes needed to gain a bit of momentum back after a fairly disappointing stretch. Against Montreal, the Hurricanes fired 50 shots on net, gave up only 12 shots at even strength and then went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, on route to the shutout win. Against New York, Carolina was the better team for most of the game and held off the Islanders after pulling ahead, limiting them to only 22 shots.
So over the two wins, the Hurricanes outshot their opponents by an 85-36 margin. Would it have been great to see a few more goals scored, given this level of control? Sure. We know it’s going to be an issue and despite how strong the team played in each win, it doesn’t necessarily build confidence in their finishing ability. At the same time, they really shut down their opponents and looked a lot more like a team you wouldn’t want to run up against in the first round.
The Hurricanes also got the job done without Teuvo Teravainen, who's still out with an illness. Normally that wouldn’t be as interesting of a feat, especially factoring in Teravainen’s down year. But with the team already without two of their top forwards and struggling to score, being without another productive, top-six winger doesn't help.
So looking at the Metropolitan Division, the New Jersey Devils can only get as high as 114 points, and with the Hurricanes at 107 points now, they're slowly closing in on securing the division.
With six games remaining, the Hurricanes also have to be happy with their remaining schedule. None of their remaining games will come against teams currently holding a playoff spot, and even if the Devils went undefeated for their remaining five games, Carolina winning four of their six contests would lock up the division.
The pair of wins are a step in the right direction, after the team looked a bit like a shell of themselves over the last week or so. The Hurricanes will be back in action tomorrow, when they host the Ottawa Senators.
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