Hurricanes Entering Dangerous Territory

The Carolina Hurricanes are entering dangerous territory as they kick-off the 2025 portion of their schedule.

Jan 2, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (52) is congrulted by teammtes after defeating the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-Imagn Images / Rich Storry-Imagn Images

The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a disappointing contest against the Minnesota Wild, losing by a score of 4-0. The game was a measuring stick contest against a quality team in the Western Conference, and the Canes failed miserably.

The loss in a nutshell isn't a problem for the Hurricanes, but their play lately is deeply concerning. They are 5-4-1 over their last 10 games, and even in their victories they haven't looked all that convincing.

One trend that sticks out is they aren't finishing on the vast number of quality chances they are producing. Over this stretch, they've matched or outshot their opponents regularly. Look at their loss to the New Jersey Devils coming out of the holiday break.

The contest was relatively one-sided on the final score, with the Devils winning handedly by a score of 4-2. But the Canes outshot the Devils 31-23 in the contest and outchanced the Devils throughout the entire game as well. According to MoneyPuck's breakdown of the game, the Hurricanes produced 5.9 expected goals, compared to the Devils 3.82. That's been the case throughout this 10-game funk Carolina is playing through.

Another trend that the team needs to buck is their inability to win back-to-back games. The last time they won two straight games was in the middle of December. In the time since, they've been toggling back and forth between winning and losing. The best teams stack wins, and they were doing that earlier in the campaign. They must get back to it if they want to find their way back to their game.

Call it poor puck luck or call it a slump, either way the Hurricanes are playing decently and not getting the rewards. Chances are being created and their team structure continues to get the team quality opportunities, but they aren't having the success they enjoyed to start the season.

The silver lining for the Canes is that they have a slightly comfortable cushion. They have an eight point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and have a game in hand on both teams. That shouldn't provide comfort to the Hurricanes, however. If they continue playing the way they are now, it won't be long before either Blue Jackets or Penguins leapfrog them. It's a dangerous territory the Hurricanes have entered, one they'd be best to get out of in a hurry.

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