Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to SWEEP the New York Islanders

2. Special Team Consistency

In Game 1, both the Islanders and Hurricanes were excellent on the penalty-kill, both teams killing off four penalties. But what does that mean for the powerplays for both teams? Oh, it means that they both nothing out of their powerplays in terms of the scoreboard, perhaps momentum but nothing to show for it but for mostly a stalemate for most of the game.

Although Game 1 shows that both teams need to work on their powerplay, the Islanders are the only team who has improved on special teams in both categories. The Hurricanes have went backward, but their even-strength performance has been enough in the last three games. But for how long?

Game 2, the Islanders scored once out of two powerplays and shut down the Hurricanes powerplay three times.

In Game 3, the Islanders struck once on the powerplay and failed on their last two attempts. A common trend has been the Islanders scoring their first tallies of the game with the powerplay and that tends to be the only effective one, as the Hurricanes start stepping up more in the later parts of the game. The Hurricanes need to be consistent.

The Islanders are trying everything to stay alive and continuing their penalty-kill perfection which has allowed no goals and their improving powerplay to be consistent is something the Hurricanes need to build consistency on, it’s a pure battle of eagerness and desire to win. Both teams are looking for the same thing on the penalty-kill and powerplay, don’t let them score and go score your own.

Outwork them, plain and simple… speaking of which, the third key.