The Canes are seemingly back on track as one of the hottest teams in the league
It only took 38 games, a four-game winning streak and a 6-1 trouncing of the league-leading New York Rangers to convince me, but it's now safe to say that the Carolina Hurricanes have finally found their stride.
After a slow start to the season, in which the team's up and down, inconsistent play much resembled that of a roller coaster, everything has begun to fall into place for Carolina.
Both special teams are top-10 in the league, Pyotr Kochetkov has been a top-10 netminder since the start of December, Sebastian Aho is a scoring machine and everything just seems to be working.
So let's take a dive into how all the parts of the machine have come together.
Goaltending
Through the first two months of the season, the Canes' goaltending situation was dire.
They had the worst goaltending statistics in the NHL and an 86.65% team save percentage despite being either first or second in the league in chances against, high danger chances against and expected goals against.
While the shortcomings weren't completely on the guys in the net, there were plenty of costly turnovers and poor coverages throughout that span, the inability of Carolina's goalies to step up, make key saves and bail the team out was costly and that creates a bleedover effect on player's psyche.
Guys start playing tight, they start thinking too much, they start to tweak how they play and that's a reason why the team looked so inconsistent.
But after the four-game losing streak through western Canada, a switch flipped.
Kochetkov came out of that trip with a renewed energy and has single handedly begun to turn the ship around for Carolina in net.
Since Dec. 9, Kochetkov has a 6-1-2 record with a 0.934 save percentage, which is third in the league amongst goaltenders who have played at least five games during that span.
He's allowed one or fewer goals in five of those games and two or fewer in seven.
He's been a true difference maker for the Hurricanes.
"He's been amazing," said Andrei Svechnikov. "I feel like every game he gets more confident and he's just been better and better, to be honest. He's already elite so it's exciting to see him being huge for us."
Forward Scoring
For the first time in what feels like decades, the Canes have a player in the top-15 of league scoring in January.
Sebastian Aho's incredible tear as of late has propelled him towards the upper echelon of the league with 43 points in 35 games.
Since the holiday break, Aho has 12 points in four games and he's collected 21 over his last 11.
When things are going well, they usually come in bunches.
"Definitely you have more confidence making plays and sometimes even more patience to let the game sort of happen for you," Aho said about his production.
Alongside him, Andrei Svechnikov has been incredible since his return from injury.
In those seven games, 'Svech' has seven goals and 12 points and it's safe to say that he's feeling 100% back.
"We talk about it all the time, he's gotta get on the scoresheet for us to be the team we need to be," Brind'Amour said following his hat trick against Montreal. "He's a dominant player and to be that, you've got to score."
It's not just been those two either, as the depth scoring has really stepped up for Carolina too.
Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury have become indispensable staples on the fourth line both offensively and defensively and plenty of other guys — Michael Bunting, Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis — are providing consistent scoring as well.
The stars are being stars and everybody else is helping to carry the load. It's what you've got to have.
Power Play
Along with that, another key component for Carolina's success as of late has been the resurgence of the power play.
The Canes' power play currently ranks fifth in the league with a 27.3% success rate.
After the Western Canadian disaster trip, Carolina had the 16th best power play in the NHL, operating at a 20.7% success rate. In 92 opportunities, they had scored 19 times.
Since then however, the Hurricanes have scored 17 times on their last 40 opportunities. A 42.5% success rate over the span of three weeks / 11 games.
And really, not much has changed with it.
"It's funny how that goes because you're doing the same things that you've been doing all year and nothing was working at some point and now all of a sudden they start going in," Brind'Amour said following the win in Toronto. "I don't really have the answer, but it's nice that we're getting some bounces and getting rewarded."
Perhaps part of the success is due to personnel tweaks with probably the biggest part of that being the return of Svechnikov, who has seven power play points since returning from injury in mid-December.
Then there's also the play of Aho, who's been playing on another level as of late. He has 12 power play points in that span and has won nearly 60% of his power play draws.
But it's not just been them.
The Hurricanes are finding success all over the power play with 12 different players having found the back of the net on the man advantage this season.
Defense
At the start of the season, the Hurricanes' defense was a mess.
Rotating pairs, injuries and inconsistent play hallmarked a significant step down than what is normally expected from a usually elite grouping.
But a bit of stability has since started to pull it all back in and they are showing what they're supposed to be
Carolina is fifth in the league in expected goals against per 60 (2.33), first in chances against per 60 (48.49) and fourth in the league in high-danger chances against per 60 (9.92).
The team is back to its M.O. of limiting opponents and locking down top opposition, but even when there's been some slipups, Kochetkov has been right there to clean up the mess.
That provides a calming effect on the defense that allows guys to relax and just play the game.
"You can't really measure it because we make some mistakes and he bails you out," Brind'Amour said. "Nobody is talking about the mistake anymore and you don't have to think about it. That's what goaltending does for you. You get those saves and you're allowed to keep playing your game and not get frustrated and not get out of what you have to do. That's the key.'
And the defense hasn't just been one-dimensional either as they are steadily producing too.
Brady Skjei (6g, 24pts) continues to blossom into one of the NHL's most underrated offensive defensemen (he was third in goals by defensemen for the 2023 calendar year) and Brent Burns has taken a huge step forward offensively since the holiday break with a goal and six points in four games.
Penalty Kill
Finally, we come to the penalty kill.
The Hurricanes' bread and butter.
If you will recall, it was terrible to start the season.
Like sub-70% through eight games bad.
But there was never going to be a scenario in which Rod Brind'Amour didn't get that corrected with haste.
The Canes have crawled their way back up to the 9th best penalty kill in the league with a 83.1% success rate.
In the entire month of December, the Hurricanes' kill allowed just three power play goals against in 48 shorthanded instances.
So safe to say it's back to being elite.
