The Carolina Hurricanes have secured their long-sought shot at breaking through a familiar roadblock in the Eastern Conference final.
Now the Hurricanes — the only undefeated team left in the NHL playoffs — are set for another a lengthy wait to get started in the third round.
The Hurricanes will face the Montreal-Buffalo winner, a series running through at least Thursday. The East’s top seed had nearly a full week off after sweeping Ottawa in Round 1.
“I think it’s probably going to be an even longer break this time,” veteran forward Taylor Hall said after Saturday’s win in Philadelphia.
“The big positive is we’re on to the third round relatively unscathed and healthy. You don’t want to see injuries per se, but we hope these series go far and these teams have battles. That’s the advantage we’re going to have. … Rod, our strength staff, all of our staff, do a good job of making sure that we’re ready athletically to play. And from there, we get our footing pretty quickly.”
“We had a plan, and clearly it was OK,” Brind’Amour said, “so we can follow that and run with it.”
Carolina’s game plan relies on grinding effort and energy: an aggressive forecheck to pressure opponents into mistakes, possessing the puck in the offensive zone and staying there and firing chances at goaltenders and chasing rebounds — all of which minimizes scoring chances going the other way.
That’s why the benefit of fresh legs and recharged minds has mattered more than the risk of rust so far.
Consider veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen. The 36-year-old Dane had started 32 playoff games for Carolina the past three years and the question lingered as to how much to lean on Andersen with 31-game winner Brandon Bussi also available.
But Andersen has been the best goaltender of the playoffs so far, with a 1.12 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage. He has two shutouts and has faced 25 or fewer shots in five of his eight games. Now he’ll get another break to stay fresh.
As Andersen put it: “You don’t really want to add extra games if you can avoid it.”
Or there’s the case of defenseman Sean Walker.
It was in the hours after Thursday’s Game 3 road win that he got the call from wife Taylor back in North Carolina that their first baby was on the way. So, he hopped an early morning flight home for the arrival of a daughter just in time for Mother’s Day. He ate his pregame meal in the hospital cafeteria, then flew to Philadelphia around 2 p.m. Saturday ahead of the 6:15 p.m. puck drop.
“I didn’t want to get on the boys and tell them we better win tonight, but I’m really appreciative that everybody dug in,” Walker said. “The sweep’s huge for everybody. But to take this time to just be with my family is going to be really special.”
Familiar roadblock awaits
Carolina has been elite on the penalty kill, a recurring strength, shutting down 38 of 40 chances (95%) while getting a shorthanded goal in Game 3 at Philadelphia. Offensively, the second line of Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake has been dominant, with 14 goals and 31 points through eight games.
That’s more than offsetting a quiet start for the Sebastian Aho-Andrei Svechnikov-Seth Jarvis top line, as well as a power play that is just 5 of 37 (13.5%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season at 24.9%.
Still, the Hurricanes never trailed in their first five postseason games, and have won their last five games with a chance to close out an opponent.
Next comes a familiar roadblock.
Now the Hurricanes get another shot.
“The season is so long and there’s that 82-game season we talk about that no one really gives much credit to, and yet this team’s played well for eight months,” Brind’Amour said. “They didn’t just get hot at the end. It’s been night in, night out like this. And that’s the biggest takeaway for me. Probably the thing I’m most proud of about this group is that.
“And now, here we are. We’ve got to find a way to get that next step.”
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