With 26 games to play, the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Saturday night’s 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche vaulted the Canes into the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot, with their 61 standings points one ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders*.
While Carolina has found itself in playoff position at different points this season, this is the first time the team has been in that spot this late in the year since the 2010-11 season. With under a third of the regular-season schedule left to play, Carolina is in a good spot — but staying there is another story.
The team has made its way into that spot before during this year, but ended up quickly falling back out.
So, what do the Canes need to do to ensure they play more than 82 games this year? On paper, it’s relatively simple: win divisional games. The Metropolitan Division is going to get five playoff teams, its customary top three and both Eastern Conference Wild Card spots.
That leaves five spots for eight teams. The Washington Capitals are in. They lead the division with 70 points in the standings, and are nine points clear of the Islanders on the outside of the playoff picture. The Pittsburgh Penguins will also likely make it. They sit second with 66 points, and while they have played more games than a number of teams, they are the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions and have a talented core led by forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
So, that leaves six teams fighting for three spots, the Hurricanes, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. For the purpose of this exercise, we’re going to say the Rangers miss. While it’s foolish to count out a team with Henrik Lundqvist in net, the Rangers currently sit last in the division with 59 points, and general manager Jeff Gorton recently sent a letter to fans hinting that the team is looking at blowing up its roster.
Down to five teams for three spots. The Blue Jackets would appear to be a likely playoff team as well. Columbus is right outside the playoff picture with 60 points and struggles to score, but has a Vezina-caliber goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky. Goaltending counts the most this time of year, which should propel Columbus into the postseason.
Four teams for two spots. That leaves the Canes, the Devils right ahead of them at 62 points* (albeit with two fewer games played), the Islanders right behind them at 60 and the Flyers two points ahead at 63 (with one fewer game played)*. In order to make the playoffs, the Canes need to finish better than two of those teams, and they control their ability to do that.
The Canes have yet to play a single game this year against the Devils, with the four-game season series (two at home, two away) coming up. The Canes have played one game against the Flyers (an overtime loss at home on Feb. 6) and have one game at PNC Arena and two games in Philadelphia remaining. The team has split one home and one away game with the Islanders this year, with one of each left.
Next weekend will be a big one for the Canes, with three games in four nights Thursday to Sunday, with two (home and away) with the Devils and one at home against the Islanders.
That’s nine crucial games remaining on the schedule that will go a long way towards determining the team’s playoff fate. Carolina will need more of the same from both of its last two games, with balanced scoring throughout the lineup, good special teams play and strong goaltending from both Cam Ward and Scott Darling.
The door to the postseason is open for the Carolina Hurricanes. With so many head-to-head games left against fellow wild card competitors, the team controls its fate. The Canes themselves are the ones who control whether or not they will be able to end the NHL’s longest active playoff drought.
*This story was written and published before the final results of Sunday’s Islanders, Devils and Flyers games.
