RALEIGH, N.C. — This column gained’t be truthful. Probably not. Not when a bounce right here, a whistle there, a fortunate break someplace, wherever, might have modified the complete complexion and narrative of this collection, of this staff, of the very notion of this group. Not when this staff has seemed so robust at five-on-five, not when the ephemeral nature of particular groups is the foundation reason behind its present ills, not when each sport it performs — and each rattling sport it loses — appears to be determined by one aim, one shot, one deflection. Not when this staff has loved the longest sustained run of success within the historical past of the franchise.
However we have to speak concerning the Carolina Hurricanes.
Not in the identical sentence because the Toronto Maple Leafs — that’s too harsh, too melodramatic. However in the identical paragraph.
As a result of it’s not working. It hasn’t labored. And it seems it gained’t work.
You understand by now what the Hurricanes are all about. Depth over elite finishers. Amount of photographs over high quality. Relentlessness over resourcefulness. Goaltending that’s all the time adequate, by no means nice sufficient. It really works so fantastically, so majestically, from October by means of April. Nevertheless it hasn’t labored in Could, they usually haven’t even made it to June.
Carolina is an organizational marvel, one of many best-run and most forward-thinking entrance workplaces within the league. The Hurricanes have constructed a monster, a staff that’s so deep, so quick, so efficient, so ferocious on the forecheck. They win battles. They retrieve pucks. They put on down opponents. They gained the NHL’s rough-and-tumble Metropolitan Division three years in a row earlier than getting barely edged out by the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers this season by 3 factors. They’ve completed among the many prime three groups within the league in every of the previous 4 seasons. The analytical fashions adore them, the bettors favor them, and the hockey males and pc youngsters alike respect them.
Then the playoffs come round, and, nicely, this occurs.
The Hurricanes are on the brink once more, trailing their second-round collection towards the Rangers 3-0 after Artemi Panarin’s acrobatic tip-in 1:43 into additional time Thursday evening gave New York a 3-2 victory. It was a gut-wrenching means for Carolina to lose, particularly after Andrei Svechnikov scored the equalizer with 1:36 left in regulation, sending the cacophonous PNC Area into absolute bedlam. It felt like that could possibly be a turning level within the collection. As an alternative, it simply turned one other flip of the knife.
HAVE A GAME, ANDREI! pic.twitter.com/6jfaD9Af6H
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) Could 10, 2024
It was simply as merciless in Sport 2 on Tuesday evening, when the Hurricanes misplaced in double additional time at Madison Sq. Backyard. And once they misplaced 4-3 in Sport 1. And once they misplaced all 4 video games of final season’s Japanese Convention ultimate towards the Florida Panthers, every by one aim, two of them in additional time, one in all them in quadruple additional time, the sixth-longest sport in NHL historical past. Their final eight postseason losses have come by one aim, 5 in additional time.
At all times chasing yet one more aim. At all times making an attempt to recover from the hump. By no means fairly getting there.
“It’s slightly little bit of a damaged document,” Canes captain Jordan Staal stated quietly Thursday evening. He was speaking about one other sport during which particular groups — such a energy all season — betrayed Carolina. The league’s second-best energy play went 0-for-5 for the third straight sport. The Hurricanes even allowed a short-handed aim to Chris Kreider and two extra prime short-handed possibilities on prime of that.
However Staal might have been speaking concerning the greater image, too. As a result of we’ve seen this Could frustration too many instances now.
For those who depend the Play-In spherical of the 2020 bubble playoffs, Carolina has gained a postseason spherical in six straight seasons. It’s the sort of sustained run of competitiveness that a lot of the league would do something to achieve. However Carolina hasn’t gained a single sport past the second spherical in these six seasons, swept within the Japanese Convention ultimate in 2019 and 2023. The Hurricanes Method works extraordinarily nicely within the common season. It makes fast work of wild-card-level playoff groups, such because the New York Islanders the previous two seasons.
However towards different elite groups — those with all-world gamers comparable to Panarin, or Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, or Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Level, and all-world goalies comparable to Igor Shesterkin or Sergei Bobrovsky or Andrei Vasilevskiy — they arrive up simply quick. Agonizingly quick. So quick that it appears like a toss-up each time, that it feels unfair to carry these losses towards them, that it feels just like the hockey gods are simply toying with them in their very own merciless means.
However nonetheless quick. At all times quick.
And so Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour can say advert nauseam that he has cherished Carolina’s five-on-five sport towards the Rangers. He ought to. The Hurricanes have been the higher staff at evens in all three video games. And we will level to Pyotr Kochetkov’s sensible pokecheck of a Kreider breakaway within the ultimate minute of regulation or any variety of Frederik Andersen saves within the first two video games. And we must always. Each goaltenders have been stable. And we will level out that Carolina acquired the finisher it’s all the time lacked in Jake Guentzel and that he has scored three targets previously two video games. And we must always. He’s been as marketed.
However ultimately, trip-ups change into a development, stumbles change into a signature. And although the extremity of every scenario varies wildly, the Hurricanes discover themselves in an analogous scenario to the Maple Leafs, who’ve turned “run it again” right into a punchline, operating right into a brick wall spring after spring after spring. The Canes are higher than the Leafs. The Canes have achieved greater than the Leafs. The Canes are constructed because the polar reverse of the star-laden, top-heavy Leafs. However the Canes have gained the Stanley Cup as many instances because the Leafs. That’s what it’s about, proper? Each have been constructed to win championships. Neither has come all that shut.
Toronto fired coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday. Carolina clearly gained’t be doing the identical with Brind’Amour, top-of-the-line coaches within the league. He’s due a brand new contract, however it’s unfathomable for the franchise icon to be behind the bench wherever else. He’ll be again. However Carolina can rethink issues. The highest duo of Sebastian Aho and Svechnikov are locked up long-term, however the roster is rife with pending free brokers. Common supervisor Don Waddell may have the sort of cap flexibility most contenders can solely dream of. Waddell can pursue extra high-end expertise up entrance and possibly in aim. Brind’Amour can tinker along with his system, possibly loosening the construction and the strictures of Carolina’s dump-and-chase, funnel-pucks-to-the-net-from-anywhere-and-everywhere fashion and inspiring extra creativity, extra offensive boldness. One thing. Something. As a result of the Rangers assault the web. The Hurricanes simply shoot at it.
Barring a historic comeback from a 3-0 deficit that renders this column and this narrative extra moot than the silly notion that hockey can’t thrive in a southern market, Waddell and Brind’Amour should determine whether or not they, too, need to run it again. Or if it’s time for one thing completely different.
“It’s a brand new day tomorrow,” Staal stated. “It’s gonna harm tonight — gained’t get a lot sleep. However we’ll have a brand new day tomorrow, and we’ll discover a approach to win one sport. It’s been our mannequin right here for a protracted, very long time.”
And it’s labored for a protracted, very long time. Simply not fairly nicely sufficient. Simply not when it issues essentially the most.
(Picture of Martin Necas: Bruce Bennett / Getty Photographs)
