Carolina Hurricanes is the weakest playoff team in the entire NHL for the previous five weeks, and there is not much time to adjust the course, writes Tommi Seppälä, NH Sport’s journalist for Urheilun.
18.4. 14:26 • Updated April 18th. 14:26
Something happened around mid-March.
The home game against the top team in Colorado was one of the best performances of the Carolina group of the season. Antti Raanta played zero and Sebastian Aho finished the final scores 2-0 in one of the most entertaining matches of the entire season. Two days later, Carolina recorded her fourth consecutive win in her account.
Then began the side skid, which the team has still not been able to break.
Since March 13, Carolina have won 7 of their 18 matches. Of the points on offer, the team has picked up only 47 percent of their travel in the past five weeks – enough to be ranked 20th in the league. Canes has been the weakest team in the playoffs.
There are a few important themes behind Carolina’s slippage and the first of these is the match program.
The hurricane herd match schedule in the second half of the season is one of the hardest in the series. Sunday’s clear loss to Denver didn’t even come as a surprise in the end, given that the match was seventh for the team from the previous twelve days. And there is room for more travel around the continent.
In the previous five weeks, Carolina has played four weeks in four games.
It’s obvious that such a pace is evident even in the team operating at the depths of Carolina. Still considering how demanding the way of playing Carolina’s active pressure game is, it’s no wonder if the gas light on the collective dashboard has started flashing.
Another important consideration is that Carolina has often not played particularly badly, even though it has lost.
The team has even clearly dominated a few of the matches they lost, but the occasional difficulty with scoring – and a game of superiority – has buried hopes of victories. There have been enough goals in many matches, even for distribution to an opponent, and in the name of truth, the team has recorded more than three hits per match in the goal average.
Still, the game of superiority in particular is a concern because of recent history as well.
Carolina has been spinning its superiority game with only thirteen percent power during a difficult period, ranking 26th.
Carolina needs a posture movement soon
No truth is still unnecessarily jagged – no, even though Carolina has dominated the puck management, goal-waiting and finish line statistics in the league even during a weak period. The team has lost five of their previous eight matches, including matches against tail-headed Detroit and Buffalo.
At both the individual and team level, the posture movement should take place soon, with only two weeks left in the regular season. The game of superiority should get fit and everything to do with a touch of sharpness. The schedule is relentless, but so is everyone else. Even going to a quality team in Carolina for the spring in a strong slip is not safe.
And especially not if a top team like Boston came in right away in the first round, as would happen according to the current table.
So the last two weeks of the regular season are of great importance to Carolina. Sebastian Ahosta, Teuvo Teräväinen through defenders and goalkeepers, everyone must raise their level by a notch. Carolina will only face one playoff team in the last two weeks, just over a week from the New York Rangers, and that game in particular is worth watching with a close eye.
After difficult weeks, Carolina will have to show at the latest in that match that she has the right polish shoes for the big dance of the spring, polished in the right way – in English it would be a statement match.
And the challenges aren’t diminishing, at least as the team lost their No. 1 goalkeeper in Denver on Sunday. Frederik Andersenin, who had to be led out of the trough after injury. The game was also abandoned by the team captain and an important soul player Jordan Staal.
Others, including Antti Raanna, must now stand out even more strongly.
The playoffs haven’t even started yet, but Carolina’s character has already been put to a tough test. The hard nature of this group is widely known, but now it should be proven again. And there is not much time to make a posture movement.
On the other hand, under pressure, the biggest successes have been honed before…