State of the Canes: Five Current Storylines for the Carolina Hurricanes

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 04: Pyotr Kochetkov #52 of the Carolina Hurricanes cools down during the third period against the Boston Bruins in Game Two of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 04, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes won 5-2. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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Jordan Martinook #48, Carolina Hurricanes (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images ) /

The Hurricanes went a pedestrian 2-1-1 this week with wins against Pittsburgh and Columbus while they suffered losses against New Jersey and Vancouver.

Some general news of note revolves around goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov, as the team sent him back down to the Chicago Wolves after he played like a solid starter for a while.

Kochetkov went 10-4-5 and has a .913 save percentage at 2.33 goals against average. While he still looks the part as an NHL goalie, he showed he had some work to do as he struggled against New Jersey. Rather than being a third string goalie, he gets the shot to continue starting for a team.

Additionally, forward Max Pacioretty missed two games after his return due to a lower body injury that has nothing to do with his Achilles injury. While Head Coach Rod Brind’Amor expressed his lack of worry, the Hurricanes have seen multiple short-term injuries take players out for longer than expected this season, especially with star forward Sebastian Aho.

Otherwise, this week played out fairly similarly to the rest of the season. The Hurricanes benefitted from a lot of tightly played one-score games, and even in their losses, they played competitively.

With that out of the way, here are the three storylines that stood out this week.

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