Do not go quietly into the night

Moves that were touted as pushing the team forward and making them better for these situations last offseason proved to be all for not. This team had its sights set on the Stanley Cup, and they stood a very good chance of accomplishing that goal based on what we saw during that regular season.ĭespite their expectations being higher, the heights they reached - or lack thereof - were precisely the same as last season. Unlike in recent seasons, these Hurricanes weren’t just happy to be there - or at least they shouldn’t have been. As a result, they saw their season end, on home ice, at the hands of a team that they beat out for the Metropolitan Division crown. When they reaped the benefits of all that work in Monday night’s game seven, they turned in one of the biggest no-shows in the Rod Brind’Amour head-coaching era. Teams with Stanley Cup aspirations work for 82 regular-season games to earn the right to home-ice advantage in the postseason.