The Carolina Hurricanes have enjoyed a fine season under new head coach Rod Brind’Amour, but they still haven’t come close to locking up a playoff spot. As of March 11th the team had a record of 37-24-7 for 81 points They were sitting in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and the final playoff spot. However, they owned the first wild card playoff position in the Eastern Conference, two points in front of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens with a game in hand on Montreal.
The Hurricanes have been one of the better puck possession clubs in the NHL this season, but it didn’t always result in wins. Their fortunes seemed to turn around when acquiring Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild for fellow forward Victor Rask in a Jan 17th trade. Carolina’s record since the deal is 15-5-2 and that’s vaulted them up the standings and into a playoff spot. Also, the team’s goals-per game has risen to 3.70 since the trade as the offense is now ranked 14th in the league compared to 27th before Jan. 17th.
The 26-year-old Niederreiter of Switzerland had nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points in 46 games with Minnesota this season and has 11 goals and 21 points for Carolina in 22 games. He’s also a plus-7 with the Hurricanes and was a -11 with the Wild. Niederreiter has been playing with centre Sebastian Aho on the team’s top line for the most part since arriving in Carolina and they have gelled well together on the ice. Aho had 30 goals and 77 points after 68 games and the 21-year-old native of Finland was on pace for 36 goals and 93 points and a plus-30 rating.
The third member of the line is 37-year-old veteran Justin Williams who had 20 goals and 44 points in 68 games and is on pace for 24 goals and 53 points. The trio possesses plenty of skill, but has also been outworking the opposition on a consistent basis night after night. When Niederreiter arrived it allowed Brind’Amour to play Teuvo Teravainen on the second line to spread out the scoring. Teravainen has been playing with veteran centre Jordan Staal and has posted 18 goals and 63 points in 68 games and is a plus-21. Staal has 17 points in 36 games and the third member of the line Micheal Ferland, had 17 goals and 35 points in 58 contests.
The top six forwards in Carolina feature a fine balance of youth, veteran leadership, hard work, aggressiveness and skill. There may not be any superstars in the mix, although Aho will soon be considered one, but everybody knows exactly what his role is and is playing it to perfection. The team’s blue line also lacks star status, but it’s solid and has been getting production from the likes of Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin. Pesce had 22 points in 59 outings while Slavin had chipped in with 28 points in 68 games.
The rest of the rearguards are also dependable as Calvin de Haan, Dougie Hamilton and Justin Faulk had combined for 67 points. In net, the Hurricanes have been relying on veteran Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek. Both of them have been among the hottest netminders in the league since February when it comes to goals-against average and save percentage. However, neither of them are mentioned in conversations when it comes to the NHL’s best goalies.
Even though they’ve risen up the standings, the Hurricanes are far from home and dry at this stage. They have 14 games remaining in the season with some tough opposition ahead of them. They play the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals twice with the Flyers still clinging to their playoff hopes. They must meet the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs as well as teams in the Western Conference fighting for their playoff lives such as the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild.
In addition, the Hurricanes must tackle the teams they’re directly battling with for a playoff spot in the East as they have to go head to head with Montreal and Columbus once each and face Pittsburgh twice more. Every game is important the rest of the way, but the duels with Montreal, Columbus and Pittsburgh will go a long way in deciding who does and who doesn’t make the playoffs.