Sooner or later the Carolina Hurricanes are going to do it.
But what are they going to do? If you are not a hardcore Caniac, you might not realize that the local National Hockey League team is having a Jekyll and Hyde postseason.
They are still alive after four games of the second round but with a confounding 6-5 record. All six of those wins have come at PNC Arena, four against the Boston Bruins and two so far against the New York Rangers. But those five losses are the rub.
The Hurricanes have not won a playoff game in a hostile arena, falling all five times by the combined score of 21-8. Yes, they have home-ice advantage, and if Hyde wins out over Jekyll, they will advance to play for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. But, odds are, that pattern cannot go on forever.
The Canes are bound to lose one at home or, less likely, win one on the road. And it is getting very late into the third period of their 2022 life to rely on holding serve every time the puck drops in Raleigh. So, where will these streaks be broken?
Like Thursday night, for example. The Rangers answered two narrow losses at PNC with dominating victories at Madison Square Garden, where both teams continued looking like schizoid skaters. The Hurricanes allowed two critical power play goals in game four Tuesday, and that was that as the Garden crowd went crazy.
Can the home Hurricanes, who on paper and the standings are almost as good as the striking Tampa Bay Lighting for best-team mantle, win a seventh straight home game and then try to finally win one on the road to close out the series?
Or will they test the odds the other way? Should the Canes trip up in Game 5, they will face a close-out scenario back in New York Saturday. And that will be a very tough challenge with New York fans smelling blood. So, they need to at least force a seventh game at home on Monday.
The longer they tempt fate, the longer the odds of survival grow. From baseball to college basketball to the NBA, great teams must prove they can win away from home.
The Canes have not done that yet. Will they finally be forced to?
Featured image via New York Post/Corey Sipkin
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines