Carolina Hurricanes: Four Keys to a Game One Win

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RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 28: Lucas Wallmark #71 of the Carolina Hurricanes battles along the boards with Matt Niskanen #2 of the Washington Capitals during an NHL game on March 28, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Win The Special Teams Battle

If there is a recipe to beating the Washington Capitals, the main ingredient is staying out of the penalty box. Washington had the tenth best power play in the NHL this year at 20.8% and scored power play goals in two of their wins over Carolina.

Players like Tom Wilson agitate the other the team and not retaliating will be crucial for success. T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin lead the playoffs last year in Power Play Goals and John Carlson was tied for fourth. The Capitals rode their potent power play throughout the playoffs.

The good news is only six teams had more penalty minutes than Carolina. However, should the inevitable happen – a Washington power play – Carolina does have one of the stingier penalty kills in the NHL. Ranking eleventh, the Hurricanes killed 82.2% of their man disadvantages.

One way to combat the mighty Capitals power play is score on your own power plays. While Carolina ranked 20th in the NHL, the power play unit has looked completely different as of late as Carolina has scored five power play goals in their last five games.

https://twitter.com/NHLCanes/status/1080997266314481666

Bottom line, Washington will win the game if they have three more chances on the power play than Carolina. Carolina does not have to “win” the special teams game so to speak, but the box score needs to show that Carolina at worst matched Washington’s special teams’ output at the end of the night.

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