For the first time since January of 2014 the Carolina Hurricanes are on a 5 game winning streak. This comes after they started out the season with a mediocre 3-6-4 record. That is the beauty of the early part of the season, a short win streak can turn things around completely. The Hurricanes have now climbed out of the basement of the Eastern Conference to push themselves into the mix for a playoff spot. It is early in the season, but the Canes are sitting 2 points out of the post season, and now have a chance to end their playoff drought.

In my most recent article, I broke down why the Hurricanes were about to turn their season around. This 5 game win streak is further evidence for the point I was making, and the key has been Cam Ward.

Ward in November

Cam Ward is having an outstanding November in net for the Canes. Along with the win streak, Ward has provided the Hurricanes with calm, confident, and sound goaltending. Over the course of November, Ward has posted a 6-1-2 record. Along with that record, he is putting up stellar numbers this month. Ward is sporting a 1.53 GAA and a .946 SV% over his last 9 games. This has absolutely been the spark the Canes have needed. It is showing in how confident the players are playing with Ward behind them.

Early in the season Ward seemed to be struggling at playing “quiet” in net. This does not mean to make as little noise as possible, but to play as calm and collected as possible. Playing quiet stems from two things, confidence and positioning. Wards positioning over the span of this month has been very fundamentally sound. Goalies often get attention for making the big diving saves, or the saves along the goal line. That is fine, but that usually means the goalie was out of position to begin with. Ward has done a good job of staying in position and making the simple saves. This has built up his confidence and he can now rely on playing a fundamentally sound game. When you put those two things together you see goalies put together long stretches like this.

The Streak

Even more impressive than Wards November performance, has been his ability to keep pucks out over this win streak. Over the past 5 games, he has let in just 5 goals and stopped 126 of 131 shots. Thats a 1.00 GAA and .962 SV%, which puts him in first place among goaltenders over that course of time. The Canes offense and defense are doing their part to carry the load and help win games, but Ward has been the backbone of this newly energized team.

"We're building some momentum here and carrying it into the next game." Ward discusses his big athletic save and his role within the #Canes pic.twitter.com/FLosIcSefV

— FOX Sports Carolinas (@CanesOnFSCR) November 23, 2016

Whats Ahead?

The Hurricanes will face their toughest stretch so far over the coming weeks. Their next 7 games come against opponents who sit ahead of them in the standings. This will be a true test of how far along the Canes are in their rebuild. This will also be an opportunity to gain points on teams ahead of them, as those 7 games will come against Eastern Conference teams. Watch for head coach Bill Peters to keep leaning on Cam Ward in net. There is a set of back to back games against the Senators and Panthers, and Peters will likely have to give Ward a night off.

Other Notes

Elias Lindholm finally broke through with his first goal of the season on Sunday against the Jets. Since then he has been playing with a fire and confidence that many Canes fans have been waiting to see. Look for Lindholm to keep playing with fire and hopefully start to find the offensive touch we all know he has.

One of the Hurricanes strengths that barely gets talked about outside of Hurricanes fans is the Canes penalty kill. Coming into Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs, the Hurricanes had the best penalty kill in the league. They only improved on that by killing off 3 out of 3 penalties. The Canes have now killed off 22 straight penalties over their last 10 games. This has been the under rated key to the Hurricanes success this year. Look for the Canes to keep improving on their 91.8% penalty kill.