Beat Holtby Early
Braden Holtby is, far and away, an extremely talented and effective goalkeeper. In an era of hockey, in which scoring is increasing, Holtby remains elite. He’s one of the few goaltenders in the league that seem to get better and harder to score on with each and every save he makes.
This could potentially spell trouble for the Carolina Hurricanes, who tend to fire a massive amount of shots on goal throughout all three periods. Hearkening back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, Holtby got increasingly hard to score on as the Hurricanes slogged on throughout the 7-game series.
New additions Erik Haula, Jake Gardiner, and Ryan Dzingel have shown offensive prowess, and Martin ‘Powerplay Phenom’ Necas provides a fresh new playmaking ability that may just pull it off and get a few past Holtby early on in the game.
The situation I, personally, am hoping for is that Brock McGinn scores on Holtby in the first period, thereby giving the entire state of Washington, D.C. flashbacks of April 24th, 2019. A man can hope, I suppose.
https://twitter.com/ScottyMcCreery/status/1180500433682350082
Nevertheless, the Hurricanes need to be on point in the offensive zone early on if they hope to solve Braden Holtby and get momentum on their side for the remainder of the game.