Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to a Successful Game One vs Rangers

Get the First One

The Carolina Hurricanes have to be the first team on the board

Score the first goal. While it sounds extremely simple and almost benign, scoring the first goal of the game goes a long way towards winning the whole game for the Carolina Hurricanes.

During the regular season, the Canes went 26-3-2 when scoring the first goal of the game. That pace, across a regular 82 game season, is the equivalent to a 143 point season. Compare that to their record when the other team scores first, a miserable 12-22-3 and it becomes abundantly clear that the first goal of the game is critical.

Simply put, the Carolina Hurricanes play a much better brand of hockey when in the lead. Granted one of the four losses to the Rangers this season came after Lucas Wallmark had secured the first goal of the game for the Hurricanes, they should still strive to be the first to break the ice. They should also strive to take that lead into the locker room after the first 20.

When leading at the end of the first period the Carolina Hurricanes are an astonishing 19-0-1. Virtually unbeatable. Taking a lead into the third? The Carolina Hurricanes have only surrendered it once, carrying an incredible 26-1-0 record.

this team plays a different all-around game both offensively and defensively when they can look up at the scoreboard and see that they have the lead. If they can tally the first goal today and open up the scoring, not only on the game but on the 2020 playoffs as a whole, they will get the opportunity to truly control the game, and through that, the series.

Lean on the Special Teams

The Carolina Hurricanes have to rely on their Special Teams

Both the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers have amazing powerplays that finished the season 8th and 7th overall in the league respectively. Both have amazing offensive talent that is supplemented by good defense blueline support. So what sets these two teams apart when the ref blows his whistle with a hand raised high above his head?

The Kill. The Carolina Hurricanes boast the fourth-best kill in the league. That should more than handle that Ranger powerplay. They have to avoid the mistakes they presented during the exhibition game and simply continue to clear the puck cleanly out of the zone. They will also have to continue pushing offensively on the kill when the opportunity presents itself. Or is created.

The New York Rangers, on the other hand, have a glaring weakness while down a man. They are ranked 27th in the NHL, a bad place to be against a team like Carolina that is also incredible at winning the faceoff and controlling the zone.

Now hopefully this will be a clean game with no whistles. But who are we kidding? Its the playoffs and there is no room for losing games, especially in a best-of-five series. Tensions will be sky high and chances are both teams will get the opportunity to place their powerplay on the ice to try to get a goal or two.

The trick is to be the team that scores as well as the team that shuts out the other team from scoring. Guys like Jake Gardiner, Andrei Svechnikov, and Morgan Geekie will be relied on heavily on the offensive side of things while Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen will be needed to kill any penalties that the Carolina Hurricanes may happen to incur.

Give the Goaltending the Help it Needs

The Carolina Hurricanes have to give their defense a boost.

It has to go through five before it gets past one. Both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer have been on the bad end of plenty of goals throughout the season. All while seeing limited shots thanks to some seriously solid defense from the Carolina Hurricanes. But these are still very solid goalies and advanced analytics says that they should be making more saves.

So what gives?

Quality vs quantity. While the Canes defense is tremendous at limiting shots, especially as the game progresses, the shots that do make it towards the net have been mostly high-quality shots. These are almost perfect shots that don’t give the netminding much time to react. These are shots that get past virtually anyone.

That is what happens when your defense is so good at closing the normal gaps that all that is left is the high risk, high reward lanes. The problem is that the defense seems to forget that these lanes exist and that risk seemingly goes away.

The other night we saw a Capitals player parked right by Mrazek which translated to the second Washington goal of the night. That was Joel Edmundson‘s lane to protect but he was seemingly more interested in the advertisements along the boards.

The Carolina Hurricanes cannot continue to allow for these sorts of defensive hiccups and expect to make a deep run into these playoffs let alone get past the New York Rangers. They have to close down all lanes and if forced to chose, ensure that the goalie gets the easy shots that will boost their confidence over the high risk, high reward, high danger chances.

Think back to the David Ayres game. In the third period, Ayres saw eight shots. None of them had a snowball’s chance in an industrial oven of making it past any goalie, let alone the legendary EBUG Ayres. They have to afford both Mrazek and Riemer that same defense going into these next few games in order to get past the Rangers quickly and quietly.

Game Notes

How to watch the Carolina Hurricanes and who is expected to play

More from Cardiac Cane

• 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

• Puck Drop: 12:00 pm EST
• Location: Scotiabank Arena
• TV: Fox Sports Carolinas (locally in Carolina)
  • NBCSN (everywhere else)
• Radio: 99.9 The Fan
• Uniform: Black Alternates
• Potential Lineup:
  • Svechnikov – Aho – Teravainen
  • Niederreiter – Trocheck – Necas
  • Dzingel– Staal – Williams
  • Foegele – Geekie – Martinook
  • Slavin-Vatanen
  • Skjei–Fleury
  • Gardiner– van Riemsdyk
• Potential Goalie Matchup:
  • • Hurricanes: Petr Mrazek
    • Rangers: Igor Shesterkin

Necas is going to probably be a game-time decision, but knowing Rod Brind’amour and how he takes care of his players, I doubt we will be seeing him suit up. Dougie Hamilton skated a bit yesterday, but will absolutely not be suiting up. The good news is that there is a chance he might show up later in the series.

This is the start of a historic playoff experience. If the Carolina Hurricanes can stick to these keys, and put everything they have out on the ice, they have a chance of getting past the Rangers and starting what may truly be a deep playoff Cinderella run.

This is going to be a nitty-gritty game. Expect it to be physical and expect plenty of penalties. At the end that will give the Carolina Hurricanes the upper hand and it may do so earlier rather than later in the game. That will translate to better overall play from the Canes and a game one victory against the New York Rangers.

Question for CC Readers: What are you most excited to see in today’s game?