Thoughts From My Couch

Last Game: The Hurricanes pushed their win streak and the point streak to five and 12 games, respectively, on Saturday night by clipping the Detroit Red Wings. After good early goaltending from both Frederik Andersen and Cam Talbot, the Canes broke the ice when Taylor Hall blocked a shot, sped the other way, and slid the puck around Talbot's right pad to get the Canes on the board. They got another in the final seconds on the power play. Sebastian Aho tried to hit Seth Jarvis at the back door, but his pass hit Simon Edvinsson's stick and beat his goalie to make it 2-0 Carolina. The Canes' fourth line added a third early in the middle frame. Sean Walker picked off a pass to spark the play, ending when Eric Robinson powered a rebound home. Things were looking good until a 4-on-4 late in the period gave Seattle some life. Edvinsson found a little space in the defense and put a perfect shot past Andersen's glove to get Detroit on the board. Just 47 seconds later, Patrick Ka...

I hope the Hurricanes enjoy the ambiance they'll get tonight from the crowd at the Lenovo Center because it's the last time they'll have the crowd on their side for the next week. The Canes welcomed the Red Wings to town for the final clash of the season. Ideally, the game wouldn't be in the hands of the referees, like it was when these two met last month in Detroit. Neither goalie had taken a start for their teams in over a month, though the edge that Frederik Andersen had over Cam Talbot was his ability to play for his country in Italy, giving Andersen some much-needed reps. He was busy, too, with Denmark being largely overmatched by most of its opponents. The Canes came out of the gates hot on Thursday against Tampa, but they didn't keep their foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes. They won, but it was a lot closer than it needed to be after jumping out to a 3-0 lead. They would require a complete effort on Saturday if they wanted to get the job done against th...

Last Game: The Carolina Hurricanes nearly surrendered another 3-0 lead to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in their return from the break. They got off to an incredible start, getting goals from Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stankoven, and Taylor Hall before the game reached the 7:00 mark. The Bolts responded with two goals before the end of the period from Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov, and Dominic James scored early in the second to tie things up. The Canes' top line put them back ahead, with Andrei Svechnikov finding Seth Jarvis in front of the net to restore the lead. Unfortunately, the Lightning tied it again, needing five seconds to set up Brayden Point on the power play, sending the game into the third tied at four. The Canes' power play provided the difference-maker. Sebastian Aho fluttered a one-timer over Jonas Johansson's shoulder to take their third lead of the night. This one stuck. The Canes' defense allowed very little to Tampa Bay in the third, exte...

To quote Foreigner, "it feels like the first time," because it has been a few minutes since we saw the Carolina Hurricanes on our screens and on the ice as a collective. I'm fully prepared for the product on the ice to be incredibly rusty, especially with most of the roster not seeing game action for 21 days. Three newly-medaled Olympians returned to the Hurricanes after two weeks in Milan, looking to continue their hot streaks, while the rest of the team tried to get back into game mode. With only 25 games left in the season, we're in top gear to push for the postseason. Tampa Bay is both a good and a bad team to come back from the break against. On one hand, the Bolts are a playoff team, and this will be a good measuring stick game. However, they are also 20-1-1 in their last 22 games, making them one of the hottest teams in the league. If the Canes aren't ready, this one could quickly get out of hand. Scoring Summary 1st Period CAR (1:43)- Nikolaj Ehlers (15) (...

Last Game: It has been a full three weeks since the Carolina Hurricanes took the ice at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. The Rangers were playing their first game after trading Artemi Panarin, and they were already without Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox. Completing their season series, the Canes got on the board early on a snipe from Andrei Svechnikov. As he came off the bench, Svechnikov worked around Matt Rempe and put it past Jonathan Quick to break the ice. Quick was excellent that night, but Brandon Bussi was perfect. Quick was under attack for the majority of the night, finishing the night with 41 stops. Quick did all he could to keep the Rangers in the game. Bussi, when tested, wasn't letting anything through. He had a close call with a shot off the post on the power play, but nothing else felt that close as he completed a 16-save shutout. Jordan Staal scored into the empty net with Quick on the bench, cementing a 2-0 win for the Canes to slide their point s...

The Rangers have been in the news quite a bit in the last 24 hours after trading leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings. The trade itself was something many knew was coming, even if Los Angeles was a surprising destination to everyone not named Artemi Panarin. What does this mean for tonight's game? Absolutely nothing. Panarin hasn't played in the last few games, so this isn't anything new for them. For the Canes, their sole focus is getting two more points before the Olympic pause and getting their point streak to double digits. They played an okay game on Tuesday against the Senators, so they'll want a big effort today against another division opponent. They can either spend three weeks thinking about a win or stewing on a loss. I'd much rather the former. Scoring Summary 1st Period CAR (6:26)- Andrei Svechnikov (21) (unassisted) 2nd Period None 3rd Period CAR (19:07-EN)- Jordan Staal (15) (Nikolaj Ehlers (29) & Jackson Blake (17)) My Thoughts ...