Weekly Recap

March 30th: 6-4 Win against the New York Islanders The Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the New York Islanders in a high-scoring 6-4 victory. Mark Jankowski opened the scoring for the Hurricanes early in the first period. Logan Stankoven quickly followed up, extending Carolina’s lead. The Islanders responded, but Sebastian Aho scored a power-play goal, and Seth Jarvis added a shorthanded goal before the end of the first. In the third period, with the score close, Dmitry Orlov scored the go-ahead goal, and Seth Jarvis added his second of the night to secure the win for the Hurricanes.  

April 4th: 5-1 Win against the Washington Capitals The Carolina Hurricanes clinched a playoff berth with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals. Jackson Blake had a standout game, scoring twice for the Hurricanes. Seth Jarvis also contributed to the scoring. Taylor Hall recorded an assist on Blake’s power-play goal. Frederik Andersen was solid in net, making 20 saves.  

April 4th: 5-3 Loss to the Detroit Red Wings In the second game of a back-to-back, the Carolina Hurricanes fell to the Detroit Red Wings 5-3. Despite the loss, Justin Robidas made his NHL debut for the Hurricanes. He also recorded his first NHL point in this game.  

April 5th: 5-1 Loss to the Boston Bruins
The Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Boston Bruins 5-1. Justin Robidas scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes in the final minute of play, breaking Jeremy Swayman’s shutout bid. David Pastrnak had a dominant performance for the Bruins, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists.

Takeaways From the Week

Chatfield’s takedown. I am obviously a Canes fan and I am a big Chatfield fan. I like the way he fought for himself through 2-way contracts and years in the AHL to get to where he is now (on a 3 year, one-way contract). That said, I would have understood if he got a suspension on the grounds of wanting to send a message. The ‘takedown’ was dangerous. Chatfield is  a physical player, but not a dirty one.

On the other hand, the best way to prevent this if you are the Capitals is to lose with dignity and get to the dressing room. I don’t blame any player who doesn’t regularly fight for trying to get out of a fight when they didn’t instigate one. Get off the ice and get back in the dressing room and no one gets hurt (of deeply offended in this case).

Goaltending Woes. Kochetkov has been inconsistent at best. Anderson was NOT at all sharp against Boston. He needs a redemptive performance against a quality opponent before the end of the season. The canes have been ‘flirting’ with the Ducks over Gibson, in the words of 32 Thoughts’ Friedman. This is no doubt a move for this summer. I’ll write more on this later.

Looking Ahead

Get Healthy! That’s simple. Staal, Svech, and all the others with injuries need to get healthy for the playoff run. I’m ok with the games dropped as long as we keep our top 3 place in the division, I’m ok with us losing a few games to ensure that everone is healthy for a playoff run.