The Carolina Hurricanes are a hard team to figure out. Some nights, they will go out and play spectacularly, yet on others, players look lost on the ice. Recently, the Hurricanes have been on one of their hot stretches.
It has been an up and down season for the Hurricanes. They have endured five losing streaks of three games or more, and the season just passed the midway point. Since Dec. 31, the Hurricanes have won four games in a row, heading their Jan. 9 contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So far this season, they have been a hard team to figure out, but a quick glance at the stat sheet shows that injuries have been what has slowed down Carolina.
Only four Hurricanes have played in every one of the team’s 43 games this season. And it does not help that some of these losses have been their largest contributors and most successful players.
21-year old left-winger Jeff Skinner, one of the talented young players on the Hurricanes, has missed 11 games this season with a concussion. Skinner leads the team in goals with 20, and has compiled 33 points in just 32 games of action. He was named the NHL’s first star of the week during the Hurricanes current winning streak, scoring six goals and racking up nine points during the stretch. Skinner’s most impressive performance was his hat trick against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYfNBrczGr0
In addition to Skinner, regular players such as right-winger Alexander Semin and defenseman Jay Harrison have also missed time due to injuries. Worst of all, captain Eric Staal suffered a lower-body injury on Jan. 4 against the New York Islanders and is considered day-to-day.
Staal leads the team in points with 35, but has posted the worst plus-minus mark on the team, a mark that currently stands at minus-15. Staal has been criticized this season for a lack of production, but he is still a very solid piece for Carolina.
One aspect of his game that can be justifiably criticized is his goal scoring. With just 10 goals scored, Staal is on pace to finish with the least amount of goals over a full season since his rookie campaign of 2003-2004, in which he scored 11 goals in 81 games. As captain, Staal needs to score more goals than he has been, especially due to the many injuries the Hurricanes have had.
What has resulted from the Hurricanes injuries has been a revolving door of transition with their Charlotte-based AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. 27 different players have taken the ice for the Hurricanes so far this season, much more than head coach Kirk Muller would ideally prefer.
Hurricane goaltenders have also had a hard time staying on the ice. Starting goalie Cam Ward was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 25 and missed almost a month of games, returning in mid-November. Not two weeks prior to Ward going down, backup goalie Anton Khudobin was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 14 and did not return until Jan. 2 against the Washington Capitals.
In a small sample size of just five starts, Khudobin has proved to be a very capable backup, and maybe even a better option than Ward. In those five starts, Khudobin has a goals against average of just 1.99 and a save percentage of .940, good for a perfect 5-0-0 record. These statistics should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is no secret that Ward has struggled this season. His goals against average of 3.14 and save percentage of .895 are worse than the Hurricanes third goaltender, Justin Peters. Khudobin has won his last three starts and should get the start for the next few games and have a chance to prove that he deserves the number one spot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzJNBojWaWI
At 18-16-9, Carolina currently stands 11th in the Eastern Conference, just two points out of the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. As the team gets healthier, the Hurricanes should continue to stay competitive in the playoff race and vie for a 6-8 seed in the Eastern Conference. With the inconsistencies and injuries the team has faced, a playoff berth should be considered a win in and of itself.
The NHL will take a two-week hiatus in mid-February for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Three Hurricanes will participate in the games but in a surprise, Eric Staal will not be competing for Team Canada. Not playing could be a blessing in disguise for Staal and other banged up players, who will have plenty of time to get healthy for the homestretch of the NHL season, which begins for the Hurricanes in Buffalo on Feb. 25.
The Carolina Hurricanes have missed the playoffs four seasons in a row. Many fans were optimistic that this is year the team would end its playoff drought. This optimism was subdued when core players like Skinner and Ward went down with injuries. Though a 26th-ranked power play has hindered the team mightily, the Hurricanes have clawed their way into playoff contention.
43 games have been played, which means that 39 have yet to be decided. Getting healthy and playing well down the stretch is key in any sport. This year is no different for the Hurricanes. They must build on their current four-game winning streak and continue to goaltend at a high level, no matter who is minding the net.
Carolina has already overcome an enormous amount of adversity to be where they currently are. When at full strength, this is a playoff team. Now it’s time for them to prove it.