Carolina Hurricanes: 3 Keys to a Divisional Win on Broadway

Going 0-5-1 in their last six Metropolitan Division games, what will it take for the Carolina Hurricanes to come away with a critical two points tonight against the Rangers?

After defeating the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders in the first week of the season, the Carolina Hurricanes have dropped their last six divisional games, getting out scored 13-21 in the process. What will it take to ensure the Canes leave Broadway with two divisional points?

The Hurricanes and Rangers faced off back on November 7th in Raleigh in what was the first of four meetings between the two clubs this season. In a game where the Blue Shirts walked away with a 4-2 victory the Hurricanes weren’t without their opportunities. Generating plenty of shots, 47 to be exact, the Canes once again struggled to solve Henrik Lundqvist.

Another area the Hurricanes dominated in their last go around was the faceoff dot. Winning 60.8% of the draws, the opportunities were certainly there they were just unable to capitalize. With 22 shots in the first period alone they could have easily ran away with the game if it wasn’t for Lundqvist keeping them in the game early.

With only four blocked shots and 18 giveaways the Canes struggled a bit in their own end. With most of the defense looking more pedestrian than elite, it’s safe to say that they’ll need a better effort all around if they expect a different result tonight.

1. Shut Down “Bread Man”

Just this past off season Artemi Panarin signed a monster 8 year 89.5 million dollar contract with New York. Arguably one of the biggest free agents to hit the market in recent years, the Russian winger has fit in just fine. With 30 points, 12 goals and 18 assists, in 22 games the man known as “Bread Man” has been the go to man upfront for the Blue Shirts.

On fire as of late, with nine points in his last five games, the Hurricanes are going to need to take away Panarin’s time and space. In their first meeting of the season, Dougie Hamilton made it far too easy for Panarin to finish off a centering feed from Ryan Strome in the final seconds of the first period. A goal that would end up shifting the momentum in the Rangers favor.

With the Rangers being a young team, most of their offense goes through their top line. With Mika Zibanejad out of the line up since late October, Panarin has become even more important. Averaging 1.37 points per game his finger prints have been all over the score sheet in all but four games this season.

Among the league leaders in points, per usual, it goes without saying Panarin is deadly in the offensive zone. Known for having an elite shot, Bread Man is equal parts playmaker and sniper. With the Hurricanes on the road this time around they don’t have last change, making it more difficult to get the defensive matchups they want.

In Raleigh on the 7th we saw the top D-pair of Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton tasked with shutting down Panarin. With an assist on Adam Fox‘s empty net game sealing goal he finished the night +1 with two points in 18:11 TOI. Tonight if the Canes want to come out on top they’re going to need their entire defense core to step up their efforts to shut down Panarin and the rest of the Rangers’ top line.

2. Get on the Board Early

Historically Lundqvist has been good against the Hurricanes. In 44 games he hosts an impressive 31-12-1 record with a goal against average of 2 with a .929 save percentage. Just by glancing at this record one can see that he’s been dominate, coming away with a victory in 70% of the contest.

When you look deeper at these numbers he’s only given up more than 2 goals 13 times. In all but a few of those games the Canes have came away with two points.  With that being that case, it’s clear that the Canes need to score early and often if they want to come away with a victory.

As of the time writing this, Carolina is a top five team in scoring, with 82 goals on the season, translating to roughly 3.42 goals a game. Outscoring their opponents 34-16 in their last seven victories it appears as if the Hurricanes’ offense is firing on all cylinders. Getting contributions from players up and down the lineup they need to continue their offensive confidence into tonight’s game.

Like any goalie you need to take away Lundqvist’s eye. Having a big body like Jordan Staal plant himself in front of net and use his 6′ 4” frame to his advantage will go along way in beating the 5th winningest goalie of all time.

Earlier in the season the Hurricanes managed to chase Sergei Bobrovsky, another goaltender they’ve historically struggled to score against, when they found the back of the net four times on 14 shots in the first period of an October 8th game.

After chasing him they bested him again a few nights ago when they scored three. Should the Canes manage to best Lundqvist on the road it very well could have a similar impact on future meetings between the two clubs.

3. Play their Game

Arguably one of the biggest cliques in hockey, along with get pucks deep, is players and coaches stating they need to play “our game.” A statement that on the surface seems rather simple but means much more.

The way the Carolina Hurricanes are currently built lends itself to a speed game powered by breakout passes from their elite defensive core. With Hamilton producing on another level, and the continued success of Slavin and Pesce, it comes at no surprise that their defense core leads the entire league in production from the blueline. While this is impressive already, it is only going to increase as Jake Gardiner gets more and more comfortable with the new systems.

While this is what has lead to the Canes’ early season success, they’ve seemed to have struggled against teams not only bellow them in the standings, but specially in their own division. In some of these games they’ve appeared to have wandered from the typical style of play and effort fans are accustomed to seeing from a Rod Brind’amour coached team.

Revisiting a loss to the Flyers earlier in the season, the players mentioned that Philadelphia beat them at their own game. With Philly getting points from four out of six of their blueliners, they were the ones who controlled more of the play in all three zones. Entering tonight’s matchup at MSG, Carolina needs to make sure they’re the one’s dictating the game, playing their game.

If the Hurricanes can shut down Artemi Panarin and get to Henrik Lundqvist early they should set themselves up nicely. For whatever reason they’ve struggled against fellow Metropolitan Division teams lately, not playing the typical “Hurricanes Hockey” we fans have become accustomed to seeing in the process. Should they “play their game” they’ll leave Broadway with two points.