In what’s been an up-and-down start to Rod Brind’Amour’s first season as head coach, the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves in a solid spot to open the month of December. With two games left in a three-game swing through California, the Canes are 12-10-4 on the season and just a point back of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Canes would do well to end the month in playoff position, but more on that in a bit. Let’s first look at how favorably this month sets up for Carolina. Following these next two games against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, the Canes have a stretch of six of seven games at home, followed by road games against the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils and a home date with the Philadelphia Flyers to close out the month.
PNC Arena has been good to Carolina this season. The Canes are 7-4-3 in their own barn, and went 4-1-1 on a six-game home stand in November. Four of the team’s seven home games for the rest of the month come against teams currently outside the playoff picture.
If the Canes can repeat their form on the last home stand and go something like 4-2-1 at home, and go one game over .500 on the road (3-2-0), they’d sit at 19-14-5, with 43 points in 38 games, a likely playoff pace.
The Canes need to enter playoff position by the end of the month to give themselves the best chance at ending their 9-year drought. Over each of the last three seasons, the Canes have entered Jan. 1 outside the playoff picture. Furthermore, in each of those three years, at least five of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference on Jan. 1 finished the year in the playoffs.
So, what do the Canes need to do to win at the necessary clip to finish the month in that spot? In short, score more.
The Canes need to produce more on a power play that currently ranks 24th out of 31 teams. The Canes finished 0 for 6 on the man advantage in last Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Ducks, and 0 for 3 in a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings Sunday. Carolina came up empty on a lengthy 5-on-3 with the game scoreless in the third period. Needless to say, at least one power-play goal in either game would have grabbed Carolina at least one more point in the standings.
The Canes need more of the same from leading point scorer Sebastian Aho, more of the same from leading goal scorer Micheal Ferland when he returns from his absence due to a concussion, for rookie Andrei Svechnikov to keep heating up and increased production from veterans like Jordan Staal and Justin Williams.
The team also needs more of the same in the net, with Curtis McElhinney 4-0-1 in his last five starts, and Petr Mrazek coming off one of his best games of the season in the loss to the Kings.
December has the potential to be a strong month for the Hurricanes. If this team is serious about getting back to the postseason for the first time since 2009, it needs it to be to set the table for a productive second half.
