James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
With more than a quarter of the season gone, the Carolina Hurricanes have been having a rough year. Starting the season off with eight straight losses, the Hurricanes currently have a record of 7-15-2 to make them second to last in the Eastern Conference.
Last season, the Hurricanes had an overall record of 36-35-11, making them second to last in the Metropolitan Division, above only the New York Islanders, so it certainly wasn’t projected that the Hurricanes would be topping the NHL standings anytime soon. However, Carolina did have a good start to November, which offered some hope for the team only to see them end the month losing four of the last five games by one goal.
In order for the team to improve as the season continues, Carolina must figure out a way to come back in games and close them out. This next month will be an especially important measuring stick for the team who host many of their division rivals in December.
Despite being injured for some of the season, the Hurricane’s captain Eric Staal currently leads the team in points, along with Riley Nash and Justin Faulk with 15 points a piece. These numbers have to increase to contend with other elite goal scorers in the league.
Cam Ward has been a high note as of late, giving his team a chance in most games with big saves and pretty consistent play. He will have to continue if the team has any hope of putting together a string of wins.
In many ways, there were not really high expectations of the Hurricanes coming into the season, so it’s hard to say that their performance thus far has been disappointing. However, there have stretches of time where the Hurricanes showed real talent; it just needs to be more consistent moving forward.
Early-Season Grade: C+
Kayla Demint is an Anaheim Ducks writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow her on Twitter @kaylademint, Like her on Facebook or add her to your network on Google.
