Hurricanes Notebook: Special Teams Are Special, the Ghost Is Haunting, & Alberta Sweep – The Hockey Writers Carolina Hurricanes Latest News, Analysis & More

The Carolina Hurricanes are in the middle of their over 5,000-mile six-game, 12-day road trip that has been a roller coaster, to say the least. From dominant wins over the Calgary Flames and the Pittsburgh Penguins to comeback thrillers against the Edmonton Oilers, the North Carolina State Fair trip has been an eventful one for the team from Raleigh. Let’s catch up with the Bunch of Jerks from Raleighwood with two games left in the road trip before the matchups versus the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks.

Hurricanes Special Teams Are Rolling

The Canes’ special teams took a blow early in the season on opening night giving up two power-play goals (PPG) to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 11 in a 4-1 loss. It also saw their power-play go goalless in the contest. However, since the start of the road trip which began in Pittsburgh on Oct. 18, the Canes have gone four straight games with a goal on the man-advantage. Over the last four games, the Hurricanes’ power play has gone 5-for-12 (41.6%). Furthermore, it helps when defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere nets three of those five in three straight games. On the flip side, the penalty kill has been en fuego as well over the last four games going 14-for-15 (93.3%) to kick off the road trip. While the special teams were okay for the first two games of the season, the North Carolina State Fair trip has really sparked the team’s special teams who now sit sixth on the power-play (29.4%) and eighth on the penalty kill (83.3%).

Special teams, especially the penalty kill, are the bread and butter for what makes the Canes a hard team to face. While they have started slow, just like during the 2023-24 season on their West Coast and Western Canada trips, but eventually turned it around to lead the league last season, it seems we are seeing this happen once again. To be able to start 4-for-6 (66.6%) to now be 83.3% shows how it’s possible to go from the bottom third of the league to top-10 quickly when special teams are lights out. The power play finished third last season and right now being sixth with four straight games with a PPG gives head coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff encouragement that they can capitalize when needed. Moreover, it helps when you have a power-play specialist who’s been one of the hottest scorers on the team even after a season away with the Detroit Red Wings.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

After six games into the season, who had Gostisbehere leading the Hurricanes in goals (4)? Probably not many, especially after playing with the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season. However, believe it or not, there have been many “Ghost” sightings this season as he had a four-game goal streak before it was snapped Thursday night (Oct. 24) against the Flames. During the four-game streak, he had three straight games with power-play goals (leads team). To say Gostisbehere has started the season on fire would be an understatement. He is seen as the Brady Skjei replacement on the power play as the PP1 quarterback and it has paid off in dividends.

Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis are the only other Canes to have a PPG (1) so it has paid off to have Ghost back on the roster for the next three seasons at an annual average value of $3.2 million. He is currently third on the team in points only behind Sebastian Aho (7), and Necas (8). After 10 goals and 56 points in 81 games for the Red Wings last season, it seems like Gostisbehere has not slowed down and could be on pace for a career-high in goals before the 2024-25 season is over.

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His career best is 17 goals which he got with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2015-16 season. While he is still 13 away from tying, having four in six games already gives some confidence that 18 to make a new career-high is very doable for the Pembroke Pines, Florida native.

Sweeping Their Way Through Alberta

The Hurricanes traveled to Alberta to face the Oilers (10/22) and the Flames (10/24) and what a roller coaster those games were. After going down 2-0 after two periods against the Oilers, both Connor McDavid goals, the third period saw a familiar Cardiac Canes comeback with Gostisbehere scoring his third PPG in three straight games and his fourth total goal in four games to get them on the board. After great passing from Jesperi Kotkaniemi along with a beautiful give-and-go between Necas and Eric Robinson, Necas tapped the puck into the wide-open net farside (after a gorgeous on-the-ice pass from Robinson) to tie the game up and force overtime.

With seven seconds left, it was Aho who was the hero to complete the comeback as he scored his 56th game-winning goal (GWG) to seal the win 3-2 in overtime for the Hurricanes. That puts him one GWG behind Ron Francis (57) for the most all-time in franchise history.

Related: 5 Takeaways From the Oilers’ Overtime Loss to the Hurricanes

Luckily for them against the Flames two nights later, it was no comeback win but one where it got too close for comfort until the end of the game. The power play stayed hot as Jarvis made it 1-0 for the Hurricanes in the first period with assists from Aho and Necas. Once the second period started it was all Canes as they scored two goals in the first two minutes. Jack Roslovic did not want to feel left out with new guys scoring as he netted his second of the season 41 seconds into the period. Brent Burns got his first point of the season with a primary assist. A minute and 18 seconds later, Necas made it 3-0 for his third of the season getting assists from Gostisbehere and Kotkaniemi, who is having a quiet five-point season so far.

However, the Flames would not go quietly as they made it a 3-1 game before the end of the second period and scored a little over halfway into the third period after a defensive breakdown to make it a 3-2 Canes lead. It was not a place the Hurricanes wanted to be in, especially after being up 3-0 early into the second period.

Thankfully, Robinson put the last nail in the coffin with an empty net goal to seal the 4-2 Hurricanes win over the Flames. It was his first career point with the Canes. Furthermore, Pyotr Kochetkov tallied his first NHL point with the lone assist on the Robinson goal. He sent a beautiful pass along with the boards to Robinson which ended up in the back of the net. That clinched the win and sent the Hurricanes on their way after two stops in Alberta and securing back-to-back wins. What a turnaround after a disappointing loss to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 19. That puts them 3-1-0 after four games into the road trip with two games to go.

Canes Looking to Tame the Kraken

The Hurricanes continue their road trip in the penultimate game versus the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Play-by-play announcer Mike Maniscalco and Color Commentator Tripp Tracy will be on the call. Fans can watch the game at 10 p.m. Eastern on TV on Fan Duel Sports Network South and the radio call on 99.9 The Fan. Will they make it three straight wins before finishing the road trip in Vancouver next week?