RALEIGH, N.C. -- Following a 4-3 loss on Long Island on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes have dropped four of five and are just 3-5-1 in their last nine.
The team's slump has dropped them from the top of the Eastern Conference to third place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils.
So what ails Carolina? There are some obvious and maybe some under-the-radar reasons for the Hurricanes' funk.
The Hurricanes have had injury issues in net. Frederik Andersen, who stopped 95 of 101 shots in a 3-1-0 start to the season, is recovering from knee surgery performed Nov. 22. He is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks, which would put Andersen's return in mid- to late January.
That shifted much of the load to Pyotr Kochetkov, who many believed would take the lead role this year regardless of Andersen's situation.
The results have been mixed. Kochetkov has shown the ability to be a winner -- including winning seven straight starts in a two-week stretch earlier in the season -- and has often made saves at key times. On the flip side, Kochetkov has also been victimized by a handful of bad goals.
The most concerning thing with Kochetkov, however, is he's also found himself out of the lineup on occasion. He suffered a head injury on Nov. 23 in Columbus that knocked him out for four games.
While the team never confirmed Kochetkov suffered a concussion, he appeared to be knocked unconscious after the collision with teammate Sean Walker.
That left the net to Spencer Martin, but the journeyman goalie -- despite winning two of four -- struggled by allowing 17 goals with an .827 save percentage.
After Kochetkov returned, the Hurricanes signed Dustin Tokarski -- who was on a professional tryout with the Chicago Wolves, Carolina's AHL affiliate -- and brought him up to back up Kochetkov, sending Martin back down.
The Hurricanes are confident Kochetkov can carry the load, but they would probably like him to be a bit more careful than he was Saturday against the Islanders.
More than anything, Carolina needs to keep goals out of its net. In their last nine games, the Hurricanes have allowed 39 goals -- 4.33 goals per game -- and allowed at least three goals in each -- including four or more in seven.
The Hurricanes have given up a lot of goals in the last nine games, but the power play helped keep them in games.
Carolina scored on the power play in all but one of those games and had 12 goals in all, converting on 42.9 percent of its 28 chances. For the season, the power play is No. 2 in the league at 29.6 percent.
The Hurricanes' even-strength scoring, however, has hit a lull of late. Carolina managed to score two five-on-five goals in each of the three games following Kochetkov's injury but had just three in the last four games -- and two of them came in Thursday's win over the Avalanche, the only game of the four that even slightly resembled the team's early-season play.
The best guess for Carolina's disjointed even-strength play? The Hurricanes still look a little shell-shocked from all the turmoil in their net the past few weeks. Carolina played a lot of high-scoring games with Martin in goal at the end of November -- there were a combined 32 goals scored in his four consecutive starts -- and managed to sometimes outscore its problems.
That has perhaps thrown the team a bit off-kilter. The Hurricanes allowed 10 high-danger chances at five-on-five in each of their three recent losses while totaling just 12, and they were outscored 7-1 on those according to Natural Stat Trick.
Carolina's five-on-five play is key to its game on most nights, so relocating that -- a visit from the inexperienced San Jose Sharks on Tuesday could be a remedy -- should lead to more even-strength goals and fewer high-danger chances allowed.
The Hurricanes' defense is key to everything they do, but the blue line hasn't contributed offensively in the last five games.
But, you say, Shayne Gostisbehere has five points -- including three assists in the loss to the Islanders -- in the last three games? Yes, but none came at five-on-five (four power-play points, one at six-on-five). Gostisbehere actually has just four of his 24 points at five-on-five.
Carolina's defense has mustered just two five-on-five points (one for Sean Walker, one for Brent Burns) in the last four games, and both came in the win over Colorado.
Dmitry Orlov, who got off to a great start producing points with 14 in the season's first 22 games, has been kept off the scoreboard in the last five. Jaccob Slavin's point drought is at six. Jalen Chatfield is without a point in the last four.
The Hurricanes don't have a defenseman who will single-handedly create offense. Burns' days of doing that are past, Gostisbehere is a power-play ace, and the rest of the group has combined for one 40-point season in their collective careers (Slavin, 42 points in 2021-22.) When Carolina is rolling at five-on-five, all six defensemen find ways to get on the score sheet. That's not happening lately.
One bit of good news: Andrei Svechnikov is finding his game. After a career-high four points in the win over the Avs -- while conceding he didn't feel great and thought his legs were heavy -- he followed it with a pair of power-play goals in the loss on Long Island.
Martin Necas has kept up his red-hot start after being named the NHL's top player for November, Sebastian Aho is quietly averaging more than a point per game, and Seth Jarvis has 18 points in 20 games after missing time with an upper-body injury. Eric Robinson (17 points) and Jack Roslovic (13 goals and 16 points) have been great additions.
Svechnikov, however, can take over a game unlike any Carolina player -- and that includes Necas. His combination of power, speed and skill is rivaled by very few in the league, and if the Hurricanes are going to max out this season, they need Svechnikov to find the consistency and discipline that Necas has unearthed this year.
The last two games are a start.
Three Hurricanes will participate in February's 4 Nations Face-Off: Sebastian Aho (Finland), Jaccob Slavin (USA) and Seth Jarvis (Canada).
Aho was named one of Finland's first six picks in June, and Slavin was a lock for the U.S. team. Jarvis, however, was widely considered the most surprising pick on any of the four rosters.
Because of that, what should be a celebration of a 22-year-old earning a spot on Canada's star-studded roster became a social media smorgasbord of fans talking about who they would have picked instead of Jarvis.
What those people are missing is what Jarvis will bring to a lineup. Would Steven Stamkos, Connor Bedard, John Tavares or Mark Scheifele be content playing fourth-line minutes? Honestly, they probably would be OK with it.
None of those players, though, can thrive in a checking role or kill penalties. Jarvis, under the guidance of Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour and assistant coach Jeff Daniels, rebuilt his game last season to become a two-way threat.
It paid off. First, he finished eighth in Selke Trophy voting last season, and now it's landed him on Team Canada. His numbers last year should have been enough to get him consideration, but really it's his two-way game -- combined with his skill -- that got the higher-ups and coaches with Canada to pick him.