Frustrations Mount as Inconsistencies Lead to First Home Loss of Season
© James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports - Frustrations Mount as Inconsistencies Lead to First Home Loss of SeasonThe 2023-24 Carolina Hurricanes are like a pendulum.
Swing one way and, for a game, you get a team fully bought in, all playing the same style.
Swing the other way and you've got a discombobulated mess.
And this pendulum has been swinging back and forth for 16 games and now the Canes sit just two games above 0.500.
"It's been one or the other," said captain Jordan Staal. "When you have an expectation and you see it done and done well, you expect to see it again. That's our standard. It's just been hit or miss. It's like everyone's on, let's go or it's literally just I don't know what it looks like. It's just not consistent enough in the way we play."
For years, the Hurricanes had been the model of consistency, with a team that was all buying in every night.
Now, the team has sprouted some hockey vigilantes who are taking matters into their own hands.
"As a group, it doesn't look like we've completely bought in to how we want to do things," Staal said. "It's going to look like that. We'll be a 0.500 club that wins some game and loses some games and just is kind of ho-humming. Starting to get a little frustrating. We're going to need to have everyone."
It's even more frustrating for the team because they returned nearly their full group, so you'd think they'd understand how the systems work, but alas.
"We're not consistent enough with our game," said head coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's hard enough to win anyway and then we kind of make it harder on ourselves by just getting off a little, trying to be too cute here or there."
This is the second time things have come to a boiling point in the post-game locker room in less than a week. Brind'Amour and leadership first brought up their concerns with the group after Friday's 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers.
The response to that was a 4-0 shutout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning the next day.
You'd think the team would then stick to what worked, but the pendulum simply continued to swing. If things continue like they've been going, a change is going to have to come.
"We know exactly what's going on," Brind'Amour said. "It's frustrating, but it's gotta stop. That's going to be on me here pretty soon to start shaking things up if we continue to do that, because we're too good to be inconsistent."
It not like the team's totally lost though. Despite a quick 3-0 hole, the Hurricanes generated more than enough offensive chances to climb back, but the finish just wasn't there.
However, if the team simply just stayed committed to the game they've crafted over the last five year, they wouldn't be having such uphill climbs.
"The edge you have in the NHL is you kind of know where the puck's going because that's the way we do things and it seems right now, we're just not sure what's going to happen," Staal said. "It starts to look like that sloppy stuff you saw in the neutral zone where pucks are just kind of bouncing around and guys are just twirling around and looping around. It's a less direct game than the Hurricanes know and love and I'm sure the fans love to watch. Tonight, they didn't look like they really loved that game and I don't blame them."
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