RALEIGH, N.C. — This column received’t be honest. Probably not. Not when a bounce right here, a whistle there, a fortunate break someplace, anyplace, might have modified your entire complexion and narrative of this collection, of this workforce, of the very notion of this group. Not when this workforce has appeared so sturdy 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 purpose, one shot, one deflection. Not when this workforce has loved the longest sustained run of success within the historical past of the franchise.
However we have to discuss 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 received’t work.
You understand by now what the Hurricanes are all about. Depth over elite finishers. Amount of pictures over high quality. Relentlessness over resourcefulness. Goaltending that’s at all times ok, by no means nice sufficient. It really works so fantastically, so majestically, from October by means of April. However it hasn’t labored in Might, and so they haven’t even made it to June.
Carolina is an organizational marvel, one of many best-run and most forward-thinking entrance places of work within the league. The Hurricanes have constructed a monster, a workforce 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 received 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 in opposition to the Rangers 3-0 after Artemi Panarin’s acrobatic tip-in 1:43 into extra time Thursday evening gave New York a 3-2 victory. It was a gut-wrenching manner 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 might be a turning level within the collection. As a substitute, it simply grew to become one other flip of the knife.
HAVE A GAME, ANDREI! pic.twitter.com/6jfaD9Af6H
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 10, 2024
It was simply as merciless in Sport 2 on Tuesday evening, when the Hurricanes misplaced in double extra 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 in opposition to the Florida Panthers, every by one purpose, two of them in extra time, certainly one of them in quadruple extra time, the sixth-longest sport in NHL historical past. Their final eight postseason losses have come by one purpose, 5 in extra time.
At all times chasing yet another purpose. At all times making an attempt to recover from the hump. By no means fairly getting there.
“It’s just a little little bit of a damaged report,” Canes captain Jordan Staal stated quietly Thursday evening. He was speaking about one other sport by which particular groups — such a power 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 purpose to Chris Kreider and two extra prime short-handed possibilities on prime of that.
However Staal might have been speaking concerning the larger image, too. As a result of we’ve seen this Might frustration too many occasions now.
In the event you rely the Play-In spherical of the 2020 bubble playoffs, Carolina has received a postseason spherical in six straight seasons. It’s the type of sustained run of competitiveness that a lot of the league would do something to realize. However Carolina hasn’t received a single sport past the second spherical in these six seasons, swept within the Japanese Convention ultimate in 2019 and 2023. The Hurricanes Manner 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 in opposition to different elite groups — those with all-world gamers similar to Panarin, or Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, or Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Level, and all-world goalies similar to Igor Shesterkin or Sergei Bobrovsky or Andrei Vasilevskiy — they arrive up simply brief. Agonizingly brief. So brief that it looks like a toss-up each time, that it feels unfair to carry these losses in opposition to them, that it feels just like the hockey gods are simply toying with them in their very own merciless manner.
However nonetheless brief. At all times brief.
And so Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour can say advert nauseam that he has liked Carolina’s five-on-five sport in opposition to the Rangers. He ought to. The Hurricanes had been the higher workforce at evens in all three video games. And we are able to 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 had been strong. And we are able to level out that Carolina acquired the finisher it’s at all times lacked in Jake Guentzel and that he has scored three objectives prior to now two video games. And we must always. He’s been as marketed.
However ultimately, trip-ups turn into a pattern, stumbles turn into a signature. And although the extremity of every state of affairs varies wildly, the Hurricanes discover themselves in an analogous state of affairs to the Maple Leafs, who’ve turned “run it again” right into a punchline, working right into a brick wall spring after spring after spring. The Canes are higher than the Leafs. The Canes have completed greater than the Leafs. The Canes are constructed because the polar reverse of the star-laden, top-heavy Leafs. However the Canes have received the Stanley Cup as many occasions 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 received’t be doing the identical with Brind’Amour, the most effective coaches within the league. He’s due a brand new contract, however it’s unfathomable for the franchise icon to be behind the bench anyplace 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. Basic supervisor Don Waddell can have the type of cap flexibility most contenders can solely dream of. Waddell can pursue extra high-end expertise up entrance and perhaps in purpose. Brind’Amour can tinker along with his system, perhaps 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 need to 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 damage tonight — received’t get a lot sleep. However we’ll have a brand new day tomorrow, and we’ll discover a option to win one sport. It’s been our mannequin right here for an extended, very long time.”
And it’s labored for an extended, very long time. Simply not fairly nicely sufficient. Simply not when it issues essentially the most.
(Picture of Martin Necas: Bruce Bennett / Getty Photographs)