Why the Hurricanes rock the regular season, but fall flat in the playoffs

While the Toronto Maple Leafs have dominated the conversation around choking in the playoffs in recent years, the Carolina Hurricanes have quietly slid under the radar as perennial postseason disappointments. Carolina is on the verge of making the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, and have yet to make the Stanley Cup Finals. They’ve made the Eastern Conference Finals three times over that span, but have put up a horrendous 1-12 record when they’ve gotten there.

Over the past four seasons, the Hurricanes have finished the regular season with 99 points or more, and are on pace for over 100 points again this year, so it’s not like they’ve been scrappy overachievers, either. If head coach Rod Brind’Amour and company want to get over the hump and make the Stanley Cup Finals this year, they’ll have to figure out why they’ve flamed out in playoffs past.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed what has been holding Carolina back in the postseason.

Tyler Yaremchuk: My very surface-level take on the Hurricanes and why they eventually kind of flame out every year, is because in the regular season their big differentiator is how well they’re coached and how Rod Brind’Amour has that team working their bag off every single night and they play really disciplined, structured hockey. I think those two things are huge keys to their success throughout the course of 82 games.

You get to the playoffs, and this is why we talk about them not having true game-breaking, game-changing players up front in that lineup. You get to the playoffs and what happens, Hutts? Everybody’s really dialed in to their systems, everybody is putting in max effort. Home crowds are fueling teams a little bit more. I just think in the regular season, the ‘Canes have this ability to just outwork and play in this perfect structure that other teams just don’t seem to get to, and then when you get to the playoffs, everybody’s effort kind of matches their level, and everybody’s system gets dialed in a little bit more, and that’s why you see the ‘Canes always fall back to the pack in the playoffs.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Monday’s episode here…