Starting the season strong is essential, and building momentum is important. Qualifying for the playoffs does not happen in the first month, but you can find yourself behind the pack with a slow start. The schedule is friendlier to other teams, but for the Carolina Hurricanes, it is the opposite. Carolina will need to be a resilient road team in the first month of the season, and defending their division crown gets tough from the get-go. They’ve proven to be road warriors in the past and will need to prove that once again.
Road Warriors of the East
Carolina has proven to be a warrior on the road and will need to do that again this season. Last season the team finished with a 24-11-6 road record, which was ninth-best in the entire league. In addition, that was the fourth-best road record in the Eastern Conference, so they proved to be a good team away from PNC Arena.
The most prominent road streak Carolina put together was four games, and that was part of the club’s franchise winning streak set in Dec. 2022. During the regular season, the team’s highest point producers on the road were Sebastian Aho (41) and Brent Burns (35). The season begins on the road, so they’ll need those two guys to come up large early to succeed.
Storm Surge Hits the Road
Carolina will get Raleighwood rocking early with their home opener against the Ottawa Senators, but then the team hits the road for a season-high six-game trip. The biggest key will be continuing to display their success on the road and will do it similarly to last season.
Last season the team embarked on a journey to the west coast and will do the same thing this October. Their opponents are the Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks. For the most part, Carolina had success against these four teams, so the trip should go well for them.
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Carolina defeated every team mentioned above on the road except for Anaheim. Anaheim gave them the most trouble and was the only team to score more than two goals against them. The group split the season series with each team but swept Los Angeles. It will be a new season, but carrying that level of play on the road will be critical for their early success.
Sustaining That Same Level of Play
Not only was Carolina one of the best teams all season, but they were also one of the best road teams. It was not just their record that stood out, but the level of play on the ice. If you recorded a win against Carolina while they were visiting, it did not come easily.
Carolina was an elite puck possession team and finished with a Corsi For (CF) of 61.16, which was a league-best. Along with their elite puck possession, the team had an eye-opening 99.66 expected goals for (xGF), which was second behind the New Jersey Devils. The team scored slightly below their expected rate, finishing with 83 goals, but only allowed 67 against. The ability to generate scoring chances came in bunches (1063), and they converted those chances into 67 goals.
What made the team unique was where the shot generation came from and how they got the puck on the net. Many of their chances came from the low-danger area of the ice, as the team fired 1001 attempts from the area. Carolina loves involving the blue line and cycling the puck back to those players. Overall the club saw 494 shots on goal and 16 go in the net, but they did find ways to generate in other areas. The goal is to find quality chances and get high-quality ones, so the offensive units made sure to do that as well. They finished with 441 attempts from the high-danger areas and scored 46 goals. It was the middle of the pack (13th overall), but it made them a dangerous group.
The team has elevated its special teams play on the road as well. As a unit, they finished with a 17.6% success rate on the power play (PP) and an 82.6% success rate on the penalty kill (PK). Beginning the season on the road is difficult, but carrying this level of play into the new year is important.
Starting Hot Will Be Important
There is no denying that Carolina is a great team and will go on to do great things this upcoming season. Starting on the road is never easy for any team in any sport, but adversity is a good thing for any team to overcome.
Carolina will look to start strong, and against opponents they had success against last season. Once the Pacific time zone swing is over, the team works its way back home and faces the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning. The team had a five-game losing streak on the road last season, so that will be something they’ll want to avoid early on. If they can sustain the level of play from last season, it will be a great way to begin the year. Starting hot is essential, as the division became more competitive this summer.