Thoughts From My Couch

There was still a lot that needed to be solved heading into the final month of the season. The Canes were in a deep battle for the Metropolitan Division with the New York Rangers with two meetings in April in New York. The Canes were also chasing franchise history with the wins and points records for a single season well within reach. Making the playoffs was a foregone conclusion, but they wanted more. They were looking to benefit from a light schedule in terms of strength of schedule despite having to play 14 games in 28 days. It was going to be a tough test for the Canes as they geared up for the postseason. Here is a look at March for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Month in Review Through Headlines 4/2 v. Minnesota "The Canes dig themselves into an early hole, Marc-Andre Fleury stands on his head to help the Wild take a 3-1 win in Raleigh" 4/5 at Buffalo "Buffalo gets two late goals in the third period as Anderson outplays Andersen in a huge upset win for the Sabres...

There are absolutely no major standings implications that can go into tonight's regular season finale. The Hurricanes wrapped up the Metropolitan Division on Tuesday night with a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. They don't know who they'll be playing yet, but they know they'll be in Raleigh when it begins. The Canes are coming off an incredible three-game stretch in four days against, tonight's opponent, the Devils, the Islanders, and the aforementioned Rangers. All three wins are credited to rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, playing in his first three NHL games. He was spectacular in all three games on the trip. His game against the Rangers was especially impressive. It was easily his most important game during the trip and he acted like he'd been doing this for years in the NHL. Kochetkov and Igor Shesterkin went save-for-save in the first period before the flood gates opened in the second. Vincent Trocheck and Jordan Martinook scored t...

The narrative for tonight's game is extremely simple. If the Canes pick up two points in any fashion, they'll be the Metropolitan Division champions. The opponent tonight is the team chasing them for the division crown. The Rangers trail the Canes by four points in the division but hold a game in hand in the final week of the season. This is the second time the Canes and Rangers have met this month and the final time they'll play before a potential meeting in the second round should both teams advance. After splitting the two previous meetings in Raleigh, the Canes traveled to Madison Square Garden 12 days ago for the first matchup between Frederik Andersen and Igor Shesterkin. The teams played to a scoreless tie in the first period, but K'Andre Miller opened the scoring just over a minute into the second period. The Canes pushed back hard and were able to get a friendly bounce when Andrei Svechnikov tossed one into the net off Shesterkin from behind the net to tie it u...

Yesterday's game had all the makings of being a very bad one. The Canes had a rookie goalie in the net making his NHL debut. They were playing a team that isn't going to make the playoffs. They were playing the first of three games in four days. Things were looking very bleak for the Canes with five minutes left in the third period. Despite an excellent effort from Pyotr Kochetkov, the offense was doing nothing in front of him to generate anything dangerous. The difference in the game against New Jersey yesterday was one good bounce. Jesper Fast forced Dougie Hamilton to turn it over along the boards and it went straight to Brady Skjei. Skjei throws it towards Jon Gillies, it hits a defender in front of the net, and it goes five-hole on Gillies to get the Canes on the board with under five to go. Shortly thereafter, Tony DeAngelo threw one onto the net after Kochetkov made his way to the bench and Nino Niederreiter cleaned up the rebound to tie things up with less than two minu...

We've hit the final four games of the season and today is a particularly exciting one with the news that came out today. As the Canes head to New Jersey for the first game of a back-to-back, Rod Brind'Amour confirmed that top goalie prospect Pyotr Kochetkov will be making his NHL debut. He'll be the second goalie to make his first start against the Devils this season. The Canes were last in New Jersey on January 22 and Jack LaFontaine made his first start that night. Things didn't go well for the rookie. Andrei Svechnikov and Ian Cole scored in the first six minutes of the game to give the Canes a 2-0 lead, but Nathan Bastian scored twice in the final 2:34 of the period to tie it at 2-2 heading into the first intermission. The second period was a goal-fest. Josh Leivo scored his first as a Hurricane, but the Devils scored three of the next four goals before the end of the period, Brady Skjei scoring the Canes' other goal, to take a 5-4 lead into the third. A power p...

After a brief trip out west, the Hurricanes return home to play their penultimate home game tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. Each game on the trip followed the same formula, just with different results each night. The loss to Colorado saw the Avalanche jump out to a huge 4-0 lead, but the Canes managed to keep it reasonable after falling behind, losing 7-4. Monday night against Arizona, the Canes were the ones to jump out to a huge lead. They scored the first three goals of the game in the first 25 minutes of play with Vincent Trocheck, Jesper Fast, and Max Domi all scoring. Arizona scored to get back within two, but Nino Niederreiter got that one back to make it 4-1 just over halfway through the period. The Coyotes finished the period strong with two goals late in the period to make it a one-goal game heading into the third, but Sebastian Aho put home the dagger and the defense stifled the Coyotes to make way for a 5-3 win for the Canes.  The first meeting with Winnipeg took pla...

It's time for another edition of #CanesAfterDark with the final late start of the season as the team travels to Arizona for their first and only trip to the desert. Saturday night's game against Colorado was supposed to be a fun game against the best team in the league after a defensive struggle earlier in the season. What we go was almost nothing like what we expected. The Avalanche jumped out to a 4-0 lead just 2:21 into the second period before Rod Brind'Amour used his timeout. The Canes fought back to within two thanks to the captain scoring twice, but Alex Newhook netted his own rebound to restore the three-goal lead. The lead would shrink back to two with a goal from Sebastian Aho before the close of the second period, giving me a little bit of hope for a comeback. Mikko Rantanen and Andrei Svechnikov would trade goals, making it 6-4, but then the wheels fell off. The Avalanche only scored one more time but before they did, Cale Makar laid a legal hit on Jordan Staal ...

It's time for the Canes to recover from a very rough loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at the hands of Alex Nedeljkovic and the Detroit Red Wings. The Canes were held scoreless by their former goaltender 3-0 despite the Canes playing an excellent first 40 minutes. It was another perfect example of the offense getting goalied for what feels like the fifth or sixth time this season. They head to the west for two straight, starting tonight with the best team in the Western Conference, the Colorado Avalanche. These two met just over a month ago in Raleigh and the Canes were the team doing the goalie-ing. Antti Raanta dueled with Darcy Kuemper for 60 minutes and held one of the best offenses in the league scoreless. The Canes got on the board courtesy of a fluky goal from Ethan Bear that deflected in off Nazem Kadri. Sebastian Aho added the empty-net goal to give the Canes a 2-0 win. The lineup is going to look the same as it did on Thursday night with Frederik Andersen in...

The Canes are coming off an emotionally charged victory in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. They're returning home to play a non-playoff team. What's the worst that can happen? The Canes rolled into the Big Apple on Tuesday night with a slim lead on the Rangers in the division and they gutted one out. They allowed a goal early in the second period, but Andrei Svechnikov got it back by creating a chance from behind the net that ended up past Shesterkin. They then scored twice before the first commercial break of the third period, courtesy of Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal, to take a two-goal lead. The Rangers got one back late, but Sebastian Aho scored the empty-netter to secure a 4-2 win in a place the Canes have notoriously struggled in. The Detroit Red Wings await the Canes tonight for their third and final meeting of the season. The two previous games have been polar opposites of one another. The win in Raleigh back in December felt like an easy one despite it being jus...