Don’t look now, but the Carolina Hurricanes are back in the hunt for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Carolina Hurricanes have the longest postseason drought in the NHL. They haven’t sniffed hockey past early April since the 2008-09 season. That’s tied for the second longest in NHL history. Quietly, the Hurricanes have put themselves in a good position to end the drought.
Over their last 10 games, they’ve gone 7-3-0. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens, their top competition for the second wild-card spot, have combined to go 10-10-1 over their last 10 games, respectively.
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In each of those seven wins, the Hurricanes have scored at least three goals. Carolina’s struggles to score over the years have been well documented. But now they seem to finally be getting the scoring they need to contend.
Sebastian Aho has been leading the way for them. He already has 21 goals this season, to go along with 51 points. Aho’s on pace to shatter his previous career highs and could flirt with the 40 goal milestone.
Should he get to 40 goals, it would be just the 20th time in franchise history a skater has done so and merely the third time it’s been done in the 21st century. The last Hurricanes skater to score 40 goals in a season? Eric Staal during the 2008-09 season.
Justin Williams, Micheal Ferland, Teuvo Teravainen, and Andrei Svechnikov have provided supplemental scoring, as each has at least 10 goals. While the Hurricanes still rank 25th in goal scoring, they’re clearly trending upward.
Not only is Carolina scoring goals, they’re doing a remarkable job at not allowing them. Thanks to finally getting some league average goaltending from Curtis McElhinney and close to it from Petr Mrazek, the Hurricanes have allowed the 10th fewest goals in the NHL.
The Hurricanes will face an uphill battle to make the postseason. While the Sabres have been slumping lately, you can’t count them out. And the Canadiens have been playing quite well too. Not to mention the New York Islanders, who have done a full turnaround from last season’s disaster.
However, this Hurricanes team appears to have what it takes to make things interesting in Carolina over the next three months. If they can be playing meaningful games well into late March and early April, maybe that will help light the spark for fans in Raleigh.