Carolina Hurricanes: Three Takeaways From Game Three

The Carolina Hurricanes take a demanding 3-0 series lead, defeating the Islanders 5-2, in Carolina, in the first high scoring bout of this goalie dominating series.

The Hurricanes won their fifth consecutive playoff game, as they’ve gotten hot at a really good time. The ‘Canes have fully turned around from their early season woes and are playing like true contenders.  Although it was another gritty, close fought game, both teams finally showed up offensively as this game alone had more goals than the other two games combined.

Game 3 finally showed the likes of young stud Andrei Svechnikov, and the strong veteran presence of Jordan Martinook.  Although they both only played 12 minutes of ice time, they showed they were ready to get back out there.  Svechnikov even had a few high quality scoring chances in his return, with one clanging hard off the post.

The ‘Canes continued their home dominance as well as they’re now 4-0, at home this postseason, while outscoring opponents 17-5, in those games. It also helps to have two goalies averaging save percentage of .952, and only allowing 1.25 goals per home game.

Through all this, Carolina has managed to put a real hold on the series. Here are the takeaways from a wonderful night that has placed the Carolina Hurricanes firmly on the road the the conference finals.

1. The Offense is Alive.

After what looked like it was going to be a low scoring series throughout, the Hurricanes offense found a way to score tonight as they rolled through the Islanders tonight scoring a whopping 5 goals to take down the Islanders. The ‘Canes scored 3 even-strength goals, which alone equaled the same amount of tallies the ‘Canes were able to muster in the first two games.

From the jump, it just looked like it was going to be an offensive game, and for the most part, it was. It took only 6:41 to come off the clock in the first period for this game to find its first goal from the red hot Teuvo Teravainen, who has 4g and 1a in his last 5 games.

The ‘Canes weren’t done yet, as they would score 4 more goals this game with one coming from Justin Faulk as he was leaving the penalty box, he caught the puck out of the air and netted it with a slick backhander on the breakaway to give the ‘Canes the 2-1 lead.

Captain Clutch and or AKA, Justin William’s would also join the canes in scoring as he netted a nice one time goal, after an amazing keep by Aho to keep the puck in the zone and a nice set-up as well. The ‘Canes would follow this up by netting 2 empty net goals, one for Teravainen again and his Finnish brother Aho to seal the game and give both players multi-point nights.

While the offense on five on five looked solid, we still have a concerns when it comes to the power play. Last night was another night where it failed to show once again.

2. Powerplay Woes Continue.

The ‘Canes powerplay went goalless yet again this game, to extend their powerplays drought to 0-21, and making the powerplay a stunning 0 for 9 this series. Only to add on to their lackluster powerplay woes from the Washington series where they went 3 for 25.

This also just hasn’t been just a playoff problem for the Hurricanes. They finished the regular season in 20th place on the powerplay at 17.8%. Which at this point that 17.8% on the powerplay, would be a dream.

The powerplay struggles to get into the zone and once they do, its not always a sure thing they’ll take a chance they do have before passing the puck maybe one too many times and its tossed back into our defensive end.

Although the ‘Canes have found ways to make up for their nonexistent powerplay, they cannot rely on this forever. Even in the Washington series, they showed the ‘Canes if their powerplay wasn’t works and the Caps’ powerplay was, it was gonna bite them, and it did.

Obviously, the powerplay has been questioned, over and over again, so when will we really see any change from it? Whether its moving guys around, or finding a new strategy that fits this team better than the current one, something needs to change, and if not we could see the potential consequences.