Chances are you already knew the Carolina Hurricanes were having an outstanding season. Even if you don’t see a ton of their games, Carolina’s cheeky Twitter account could be enough to keep you in the loop. The Canes’ .758 points percentage is the best mark in the league, as is their plus-40 goal differential. Carolina won nine straight games out of the gate and aside from a 1-4-1 hiccup at the end of November, the good times have basically been rolling non-stop.
But just in case there were some people out there who hadn’t been paying quite enough attention to this team, the Hurricanes did something on Saturday you simply could not miss. Trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 with just a tick over half a game to go, the Canes went crazy and popped seven unanswered goals on the home team. A pack-it-in situation turned into a 7-4 victory thanks to the Hurricanes’ relentless attack.
In a sense, the scoresheet was representative of the way the Canes rely on balance and depth to get the job done. Despite the squad scoring a touchdown, not one Carolina player wound up with more than two points. Sebastian Aho, the club’s scoring leader, was held pointless. Meanwhile, fourth-liner Steven Lorentz scored his fourth and fifth goals of the year, while D-man Brady Skjei also bagged a brace. Carolina put 49 shots on goal — chasing starter Daniil Tarasov in favour of Elvis Merzlikins — while giving up just 18 shots against.
The Hurricanes — winners of four straight — allow an average of just 26.8 shots against per game, the best mark in the league. Not surprisingly, the 2.13 goals-per-game they surrender is also tops in the NHL. Additionally, they rank second in penalty killing (89.5 per cent); seventh in goals for (3.42) and ninth in both power play (23.7 per cent) and shots on goal (33.6). That makes them a top-10 club across a half-dozen categories, to say nothing of their strong underlying numbers.
Summer UFA signing Frederik Andersen has been one of the best goalies in the league this year, while the nearly point-per-game production from another player inked in free agency — defenceman Tony DeAngelo — has helped offset the loss of Dougie Hamilton after the latter left Carolina for a megadeal in New Jersey.
Rookie Seth Jarvis was one of those guys with two points versus the Jackets and his 0.64 points-per-game is tied for third among freshmen with Moritz Seider behind only Lucas Raymond (0.85) and Trevor Zegras (0.83). Meanwhile, Aho continues his ascent as one of the league’s top pivots and is on pace for a career-best 99 points.
In two of the past three years, Carolina lost in the playoffs to a team that ultimately made the Stanley Cup Final or — as was the case last spring — claimed the Cup itself. Given what they can do across the board, it’s easy to see a scenario where nobody gets in the Canes’ way this year.
Other Takeaways
• Speaking of the Canes, remember the pre-2013 NHL alignment that included the Southeast Division and how we all derisively called it the “South-Least” because it would often have only one good team — if that — and would produce a third seed in the Eastern Conference under the old playoff format that had fewer points than, like, the fourth, fifth and maybe even sixth seeds? Well, take a look at the top four teams by points in the league today. It’s the South-Beast Division now!
• Speaking of the Canes Pt. II, Carolina wasn’t the only team to win a nutty game this weekend to extend a victory streak. The Pittsburgh Penguins held a 6-1 lead on the San Jose Sharks after 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon, only to find themselves in a one-goal game fewer than five minutes into the final frame. No worries, though, as the Steeltowners won their eighth straight game thanks to seal-the-deal goals from Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust, who both completed hat tricks with their third-period tallies. The game marked the first time during its winning run that the Pens allowed an opponent more than two goals.
• Just a quick note to point out that Panthers left winger Jonathan Huberdeau — who posted three assists in Saturday’s win over Montreal — is outscoring everybody in the NHL except Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Alex Ovechkin. The Cats took care of Aleksander Barkov with an $80-million extension, so here’s hoping — for South Florida’s sake — Huberdeau never makes it close to the open market in 2023.
• The St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild 6-4 outside at the Winter Classic on Saturday night thanks largely to a four-point showing from Jordan Kyrou and a 1-1-2 from Ivan Barbashev. The turnover at the top of the St. Louis scoring charts this year is bonkers. Here are the top five Blues scorers right now and what they were up to last year: Vladimir Tarasenko (15th in team scoring, missed half the year with injury, asked for a trade in the summer); Jordan Kyrou (fifth in team scoring); Pavel Buchnevich (fourth in New York Rangers team scoring, acquired in the summer for a second-round pick and Sammy Blais, who has zero goals in 14 games this year); Ivan Barbashev (14th in team scoring); Robert Thomas (15th in team scoring).
Weekend Warrior
It was a nice touch for USA Hockey to announce the 2022 women’s Olympic entry at the Winter Classic. Special shout out to Abby Roque, who is set to become the first Indigenous hockey player to wear the Red White and Blue of Team USA at the Games.
Still thinking about last night
Ready for the #WinterOlympics https://t.co/cAhcECXjiw pic.twitter.com/QI6m3T7Z0S
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 2, 2022
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Toronto Maple Leafs (21-8-2) In just his second game of the season, Ilya Mikheyev netted two goals — one SHG, one PPG — in Toronto’s 6-0 smashing of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
2. Calgary Flames (17-7-6) A lot of love for Carolina in this piece; well, the Flames hold the league’s second-best goal-differential at plus-31 after dumping the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 on Sunday night.
3. Winnipeg Jets (15-11-5) The Jets opened a tough stretch of schedule with a 5-4 overtime win in Vegas on Sunday. Thanks to some home PPDs, the game marked the start of a run where Winnipeg will play six of eight away from Manitoba against some top-level clubs like Colorado, Washington and the Penguins.
4. Vancouver Canucks (16-15-3) J.T. Miller is tied for eighth in league scoring. Has a trade that initially triggered so much angst ever worked out better?
5. Edmonton Oilers (18-12-2) On Friday, Mike Smith let a Jack Hughes shot sneak through him in overtime; on Saturday, Mikko Koskinen was beaten by a stoppable Noah Dobson wrister for another gut-punching extra-time L. Have we reached panic time in Northern Alberta?
6. Ottawa Senators (9-18-2) Matt Murray didn’t get much help in his first game since Nov. 24, as the Sens allowed 40 shots in the 6-0 shellacking they endured at the hands of the Leafs.
7. Montreal Canadiens (7-23-4) The Habs will pause all activities through Jan. 6 as this reeling club — which had to play shorthanded versus Florida on Saturday — tries to gather its breath.
The Week Ahead
• It’s still depressing that we won’t see Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid go head-to-head at the Olympics. We’ll have to settle for their second and final duel of the season when the Oilers visit Toronto on Wednesday.
• Jakob Voracek is slated to play his 1,000th NHL contest on Thursday night in New Jersey. Since the former Halifax Moosehead entered the league in 2008-09, only nine players have posted more assists than his 544.
