For the final game of the first half of the 2023-24 regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are paying a visit to the Carolina Hurricanes who are starting their second half tonight as well. While the preseason prognostications had both teams being in the playoff race by the end of the season, neither team started out the first half all that confident of their chances. As we know, only since December 18 has Pittsburgh been above .500, and still that position seems tenuous even though they only have one loss in regulation since then; either way, the Penguins have struggled to make an appreciable ascent in the Metropolitan Division standings but are now in sixth place (woohoo!) and three points out of a playoff spot.

The last time Carolina was at .500 was after losing to the Seattle Kraken on October 26. Since then they are tied with the Colorado Avalanche with the fifth-most standings points in the NHL. In particular, since the end of a four game sweep during their trip to Canada in the beginning of December, they have gone 9-1-4, tied with two other teams for the second-best record in that span. What’s interesting is that, unlike many times when hot goaltending can help carry a team, Carolina has not been getting that at all this year. The Hurricanes are excellent at preventing shot attempts and shots on goal (the best in the NHL by a healthy margin, in fact), but their goaltending is second-worst in the League.

So, naturally, their offense has needed to be very good, and that has indeed been the case. They are in the top five teams in goal scoring, they are in the top ten for expected goals, and they have the second-best power play in the League as well. What really looks good for them is they have very good depth: each of their top three lines has at least one goal scorer in double-digits, and while they don’t have one or two guys in particular who score in droves, perhaps better than that they have a lot of guys who can contribute on any given day. Same thing with the defense: they don’t have one or two guys who are particularly skilled offensively, but they do enough to contribute. Altogether, the Hurricanes are solid and well-run, and they have the makings of a potential Stanley Cup Finalist, but their goaltending cannot continue to let them down or else they will fall short once again.

After Monday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, the Penguins have three days off before they visit the Vegas Golden Knights next Saturday, so I would like to squeeze in a first half review somewhere in that break.