The Carolina Hurricanes are looking at a quick turnaround from one of the most exciting moments in the team’s history. Less than 48 hours after forward Brock McGinn kept this storybook season for the Canes going with the game-winning goal in double overtime of game seven against the Washington Capitals Wednesday night, the team will open round two against the New York Islanders at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Saturday night.
The Islanders, on the other hand, will have been idle for 10 days after sweeping their first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“The biggest challenge is going to be number one switching gears,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Obviously all that emotion and then to kind of throw that away and focus on a whole new opponent and a different style, that will be the biggest challenge. Obviously they’re a good team. You don’t get to this point and not be a good team. The way they do it is much different than the way Washington does. It’ll be a huge challenge.”
This series will be a different kind of test indeed. While the Capitals were a high-flying offensive force, the Islanders are one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Coached by Barry Trotz, recognized as one of the best tacticians in the league (Trotz coached the Capitals to last year’s Stanley Cup championship), New York allowed the fewest goals against per game in the regular season at 2.33. Round one brought more of the same, as New York allowed just six total goals in four games against the Pens.
Part of what makes New York so stingy is the play of its goaltenders, Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss. Lehner is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender and posted a sparkling 1.47 goals-against average and .956 save percentage against the Pens in round one.
That’s not to say the Islanders are devoid of scoring prowess either. The team’s top four forwards of Mathew Barzal, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee each put up over 50 points in the regular season, and Jordan Eberle, also a talented scorer, put up four goals in four games against the Penguins.
“I think they’re patient,” Brind’Amour said. “Their defending is the priority. They’ve got, obviously, some high-end talent but the way I’ve appreciated watching them all year is they’re patient to play that defensive game and then when you crack is when they go and they actually score a ton of goals off the rush because they have the talent and that’s, I think, an underrated aspect of that team.”
In a series where scoring figures to be at a premium, the Canes are going to need to play a sound defensive game, and avoid some of the mistakes that saw them facing early deficits in Washington.
The team’s top players started the series against Washington slow, but finished strong as forwards Jordan Staal, Justin Williams, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen all scored at least one as the Canes won games six and seven to move on. Staal finished the series with six points. Williams, “Mr. Game Seven,” had the assist on the series winner.
Production from that quartet will be needed, as will continued secondary scoring from the likes of McGinn and rookie forward Warren Foegele, who put up four goals against the Capitals. Continued production from the blue line would be a plus as well; Jaccob Slavin had nine assists in the seven games against the Caps, leading the team in points. His partner on defense, Dougie Hamilton, had three goals and six points.
The Canes could also use an awakening from a largely punchless power play, which went just 3 for 25 in round one.
In net, Petr Mrazek was strong against the Capitals, particularly at home, and made timely saves all throughout the series. He’ll need to be at his best to go toe to toe with Lehner.
A return to health could also be a boon for the Canes. The statuses of forwards Andrei Svechnikov, Micheal Ferland and Jordan Martinook are all in question going into game one. Svechnikov remains in the league’s concussion protocol after a fight with Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin in game three, and Brind’Amour said he had one more step to clear. Ferland reaggravated an upper-body injury in that game, and Martinook suffered a lower-body injury in game four. Martinook missed game five, but played games six and seven, though he did not take a shift in either overtime period of the final game.
Brind’Amour said all three would likely be “last-minute decisions” for Friday’s game, but was hopeful each would draw in at some point in the series.
As Carolina prepares to shift gears from an emotional, hard-fought series, the question of rust vs. rest will loom large. Will the Canes have the upper hand Friday coming off the momentum of Wednesday’s euphoric victory, or will the Islanders’ time off be an advantage.
“That’s why it’s the hardest trophy to win,” Brind’Amour said. “The people that are in it know it but people who don’t know hockey or from afar don’t appreciate is that what makes the Stanley Cup so special is that it is such a grind. To win that, you have to want to understand what you have to go through to win. Every game, emotionally, mentally, physically, does take a toll.
Game one has a 7 p.m. puck drop Friday night, and game two starts at 3 p.m. Saturday. The series will shift to PNC Arena for games three (Wednesday, 7 p.m.) and four (Friday, 7 p.m.). The Hurricanes have never lost a second-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and have made it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals in each of their last three playoff appearances.
