1. Penalty-Kill Good, Power-Play Not So Good
The Carolina Hurricanes killed off every penalty they took in this game. They took five minor penalties and the Islanders being on the power-play four times and a 4-on-4 for two minutes as well. Jordan Staal took two penalties and they were stilled killed off without one of this team’s major penalty-killing centers. In Game 7 of the first round, they also killed off every penalty and tallied a shorthanded goal.
As noted in the Keys to Game 1, the Islanders like to play a cycling offensive game, especially on the powerplay. The Hurricanes have played well against the mechanics of the Islanders powerplay and make the possession time of the Islanders very limited and they do not give them lots of time to think, forcing turnovers and even shorthanded rushes.
This penalty-kill has proven to be deadly many times so far in the playoffs and it’s always improving.
The penalty-kill is excellent, in fact perfect in this game and the last. The powerplay, however, is not good, and the last time they scored anything near a powerplay goal is in Game 6 of the first round with Warren Foegele scoring seconds after the powerplay ends, technically still a man up.
In Game 7 of the first round, they scored more shorthanded goals than they did powerplay goals, one to none. In Game 1 against the Islanders, they scored zero goals on the powerplay on four of their opportunities.
Although, it may seem the Hurricanes have found alternatives to make up for their abysmal powerplay, with five-on-five and penalty-kill performances, if the powerplay was good as well, they could win future games that rely on one or a few more goals, they can build offensive momentum, that is needed against this stellar Islanders defensive core.
Perhaps Rod Brind’Amour needs to change up the powerplay units or the players on those units currently just need to change the way they approach the powerplay.