It’s that time of year for the Carolina Hurricanes. The team will embark on their two-week road trip that features California, among other stops, due to the North Carolina State Fair that started on Oct. 12 and will run through Oct. 22. Every season, Carolina travels to make it easier for traffic during fair time. The Hurricanes will face six teams during the trip, with a stop at home before game six. Three games will be in California, one in Washington (the state), one in Colorado, and one in Florida.
Welcome to Californ-i-a
Oct. 14 at Los Angeles Kings
The Hurricanes start their road trip in California on Oct. 14 to kick off the festivities. Their first opponent will be that Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. Last season, Carolina won both games against the Kings by a combined score of 9-6. The Kings bolstered their roster in the offseason with the additions of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Talbot, and David Rittich.
Walt Ruff of the Carolina Hurricanes reported that forward Andrei Svechnikov will not make the road trip with the team. The first matchup of the road trip will be a huge one for the team, as the Kings are viewed to make the playoffs out of the Pacific Division. If the team runs with the lineup they played on Oct. 11 vs. the Ottawa Senators, they will need to be ready for a Kings team that’s deep at the center position. When a team can have the center depth of Anze Kopitar, Dubois, and Phillip Danault, they should not be taken lightly.
One player to watch out for is Dubois, who the Kings acquired from the Winnipeg Jets. After the trade, he signed an eight-year, $68 million deal to stay in Southern California long-term. Last season, with the Jets, he tallied 27 goals and 63 points in 73 games. He will center the second line, so he is someone the Hurricanes need to keep an eye on.
What will help Carolina is who they will face in the net for the Kings. While the Kings did get Talbot and Rittich, they also have Pheonix Copley in the goalie room. It’s not clear who Los Angeles will go with, but the Hurricanes should feel good about their changes. Expect a physical game between the two teams, especially since Brendan Lemieux played for the Kings last season.
Oct. 15 at Anaheim Ducks
After the Kings game on Oct. 14, the Hurricanes will face the Anaheim Ducks in the second half of a back-to-back on Oct. 15. Last season, Carolina went 0-1-1 against the Ducks to secure only one point, with the Ducks outscoring the Hurricanes 7-5. It was one of those things where parity really does exist in hockey. Somehow, a team farther down the standings can beat a superior team.
Related: Carolina Hurricanes fall in shootout to Anaheim Ducks
During the offseason, the Ducks had some drama coming into their 30th year of existence. They were trying to figure out how to extend star forward Trevor Zegras, who was a restricted free agent (RFA) coming into the 2023-24 season. Fortunately for the Ducks, they were able to come to an agreement with Zegras on a three-year, $17.25 million deal on Oct. 2. While that is beneficial for the organization, they are still a team who are currently in a rebuild and a team the Hurricanes need to beat.
The one guy the team needs to figure out is goaltender John Gibson, who frustrated them last season. During the game on Feb. 25, Gibson shut down the Hurricanes with a 51-save performance in a 3-2 Ducks win. The story of Carolina last season was the plethora of shots they produced, but not scoring many goals. For Gibson to save 51 of 53 shots in a win is something the team needs to avoid in their first matchup of the season. If the Hurricanes can do that, it will be a step up from them only getting one point off of the Ducks last season.
Oct. 17 at San Jose Sharks
The final game in California will occur on Tuesday, Oct. 17, against the San Jose Sharks. During the 2022-23 season, the Hurricanes won both games, outscoring the Sharks 7-5. The game on Jan. 27 back in Raleigh will be the most remembered one for a long time between both teams. Carolina was down 4-2 to San Jose with 1:52 remaining in the game. In the end, the Hurricanes completed the comeback to win 5-4 in overtime with a Martin Necas game-winning goal. Interestingly enough, that was Necas’ second consecutive game that he won in overtime last season.
Related: Hurricanes Have Potential Stud in Necas
Coming into the 2023-24 season, the Sharks are considered to be a team to finish at the bottom of the league. During the offseason, they traded away reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins and acquired Mike Hoffman from the Montreal Canadiens. They also picked up Mikael Granlund and Jan Rutta, plus picks from the Penguins. San Jose did lose a 101-point player in Karlsson and looks like a team that will be fighting for the first-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
The Sharks will rely on the goaltending tandem of Kaapo Kahkonen and Mackenzie Blackwood, who both have moved around the league in the last couple of seasons. It will be the third game in four days for the Hurricanes, with a day off on Monday, Oct. 16, so the hope is they will be rested enough for puck drop vs. the Sharks. If Carolina can recapture the magic from last year’s comeback win from Necas and company, they should walk away with a win.
Going to the Pacific Northwest on Oct. 19 at Seattle Kraken
After their three games in a four-day visit in California, the Hurricanes head off to the Pacific Northwest to Climate Pledge Arena to face the Seattle Kraken. During the 2022-23 season, Carolina won both games vs. the Kraken, outscoring them 8-3.
The game from last season that is remembered fondly by Hurricanes fans was when goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov finished his rookie shutout streak with 151:26 on Dec. 15. Carolina won the game, 3-2, to extend their point streak to nine games at the time. It was their first game back on home ice in 19 days.
Coming into the 2023-24 season for the Kraken, they were able to extend defenseman Vince Dunn to a four-year, $29.4 million deal back on July 21. Dunn is someone the Kraken hope to lean on as they push for another playoff appearance this season.
Seattle will have the tandem of Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger in the net for them. The hope for the newest team in the NHL is to carry the momentum of a second-round playoff appearance into 2023-24. However, they will need to figure out the Hurricanes, who held them to three goals in two games last season.
When it comes to the Hurricanes, if they can somewhat replicate last season’s goal total against the Kraken, there is a good chance they walk out of the pine trees of the Pacific Northwest with that W column.
Climbing the Rocky Mountains on Oct. 21 at Colorado Avalanche
The first real big test for the Hurricanes on the road trip will be vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Carolina struggled against Colorado during the 2022-23 season, only scoring three goals in two games compared to their seven. The Hurricanes went 0-1-1 in those two games to collect a single point. Over the last couple of seasons, it seems that the Avalanche are the Achilles heel of the Hurricanes.
Coming into the 2023-24 season, the Avalanche signed forward Jonathan Drouin to a one-year, $825,000 deal. The hope for Colorado is that the 28-year-old can slot onto the first line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen and produce while captain Gabriel Landeskog is out for the season due to injury.
Outside of signing Drouin, the Avalanche brought in five other players to their forward core. Their entire third line is new additions in Miles Wood, Ross Colton, and Tomas Tatar. With those three, along with Ryan Johansen as their second-line center, the Avalanche have a strong case to win the Central Division again.
For the Hurricanes, they are hoping to slay the demons and beat the Avalanche this season. To be able to win the Stanley Cup, Carolina needs to beat a team like Colorado to get a sense of where they stack up against other elite teams in the league. They will have to figure out goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who went 40-16-6 last year; his 40 wins led the NHL during the 2022-23 season. If they can get to Georgiev and stop MacKinnon, along with Rantanen, the Hurricanes have a chance to win in Colorado before coming back to the East Coast.
Beach Vibes in Sunshine State on Oct. 24 at Tampa Bay Lightning
The final game of the six-game, two-week road trip will conclude against the Tampa Bay Lightning. During the three games last season between the two teams, Carolina went 2-1-0 to claim four out of six possible points; the Hurricanes outscored the Lightning 10-7 in that span.
Before the start of the 2023-24 season, one of the biggest stories for Tampa Bay was that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would miss 8-10 weeks after undergoing back surgery. The other big story is the lack of contract talks for future Hockey Hall of Fame player Steven Stamkos. Stamkos did not get a call from the team over the offseason to discuss a possible extension and is going into the final year of his current eight-year, $68 million deal. Could that be a distraction for the Lightning, along with not having one of the best goalies in the league for almost two months?
The Lightning will have a tandem of Jonas Johansson, who only has 36 career games played in five years, and Matt Tompkins. The Lightning will likely have to rely on scoring a good number of goals and hope the defense can clamp down on opposing offenses.
Related: Hurricanes’ Teravainen Shakes Off Last Year’s Struggles in Game 1
Carolina, with its aggressive pressure on both sides of the ice, could be overwhelming for the Lightning. However, the Lightning were back-to-back champions in the last five years, so it won’t be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. Despite that caveat, the Hurricanes are still a team that will be looking to win its first Stanley Cup since 2006 with the deepest roster in the Rod Brind’Amour era.
The Hurricanes will be making a stop in Raleigh before heading down to Tampa Bay, so there is a chance that Svechnikov could be cleared to play by then. If that is the case, expect a possible lineup change when he returns.
Road Trip Prediction?
After breaking down all six games from the upcoming road trip, there is a sense of belief that the Hurricanes could rack up a good number of points. The best possible scenario is that they collect eight out of a possible 12 points on the road trip. Their toughest opponents will most likely be the Avalanche and the Lightning, though Seattle could give them possible trouble going into the third year in existence. Furthermore, they cannot overlook the Kings in their first game of the road trip. But as long as they can take care of the California part of the trip and beat Seattle, they could look back on the trip as a success.
One last thing to keep an eye on is how the Hurricanes will use the tandem of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta in those six games, especially with those three contests in four days in California. As long as Carolina can use them effectively, there is no reason why they cannot take at least four wins out of six games.
