Carolina Hurricanes Look to Finish off The New York Rangers

The Carolina Hurricanes prepare for game three against the Rangers

While the New York Rangers try to avoid the sweep, the Carolina Hurricanes are looking to get some rest before the next series. Here are the keys to victory and a real playoff berth.

One win. That is all it will take to send the New York Rangers on a bus home and the Carolina Hurricanes into the first round of the playoffs against one of the four round-robin teams. It almost seems like a slam dunk at this point, but before we count our chickens, let’s force the Rangers to lay another egg.

Winning games one and two were great, but the Rangers still have an opportunity to turn things around. It is a small one, but an opportunity nonetheless. We had our time over the last few days to celebrate those wins and enjoy the New York Ranger meltdown. Now is the time to refocus and finish off this team and establish clearly that they never belonged here in the first place.

The Carolina Hurricanes are going to go into this game with a bit more energy than the Rangers thanks to the conditioning and training afforded by Coach Rod Brind’amour. But to truly capture this moment in history and give the fans a night to remember, they have to utilize that energy in a way that will lead to another complete-game effort.

To do that the Canes need to replicate their success from games one and two while keeping the Rangers from adapting their play-style to counter it. Here are the keys to accomplishing just that.

Keep the Foot on the Pedal

The Carolina Hurricanes must keep the offensive pressure going

The Carolina Hurricanes have scored seven goals in the first two games. The Rangers have only mustered a total of three. There is a reason for that the Carolina Hurricanes bring in tenacity and pressure that leads to mistakes, even by goaltenders as legendary as Henrik Lundqvist.

In order to continue this winning streak, they need to continue this pressure. Even in the face of a new Goaltender:

Yes, Igor Shesterkin is finally coming in net, but nothing else has changed. It’s the same defense in front of him, the same coaching, the same sheet of ice. And honestly, Shesterkin isn’t better than Lundqvist, so why would any other part of the plan change?

The Carolina Hurricanes need to do what they have done for the last 120 minutes of ice time and continue to push offensively, develop high danger chances, and shoot the puck. Do that enough times and the goals will continue to rack up from any and all lines. From the Andrei Svechnikov’s of the team to the Jordan Martinook‘s, with this game plan, everyone is a threat to score.

Defensive Offense

The Carolina Hurricanes need to play defense by playing offense

Putting that pressure has an interesting side effect, it generates incredible defense which helps goaltenders play their very best games.

Look back to the David Ayres game. The Carolina Hurricanes did not just sit back and try to defend a lead, they attacked, consistently, and scored a few more times. This frustrated the highest-paid offense in the league and they only mustered a few shots against an emergency back-up goaltender who easily made eight consecutive saves, even after giving up two on two shots.

This is the same gameplan to protect Petr Mrazek, who will be making his third straight start. That protection by keeping the puck at the other end of the ice consistently kept him focused and frustrated the Rangers enough that they, for the most part, only managed to generate low-quality chances against the Czech netminder who had himself a highlight reel afternoon:

Tonight, the Carolina Hurricanes need to continue their offensive push, score early, and continue to put pressure on the offensive zone and keep the puck away from the defensive zone as much as possible. They also have to continue improving their ability to clear the zone cleanly and give Petr Mrazek the ability to have a relaxed game.

They do that and tonight will end up being the Rangers final game of 2020.

Staying out of the Box

The Carolina Hurricanes need to stop tempting fate with penalties.

The Carolina Hurricanes penalty kill is no joke. In 11 man-advantage opportunities given to the Rangers, they only allowed a single goal on a five on three. You really can’t ask for more than that. But here I am asking for just one simple thing; stop giving them penalties.

It goes back to the first two keys of the game that I mentioned earlier. If you are down a man you are going to struggle to generate any sort of offense and will more than likely spend the around two minutes playing keep away from the defensive zone.

The other team will get an opportunity to try and find their mojo, and given enough time, or worse, enough advantages, they will eventually find that mojo and the back of the net. That takes away the goaltender’s focus and puts the whole team on its heels.

Discipline goes a long way. The Rangers will come into tonight’s game with a chip on their shoulder and only the whole series to lose. They will play rough and they will want to try to escalate things to try and draw penalties. With enough patience and discipline, it will be the Carolina Hurricanes who will end up playing with the man advantage.

I am not saying that the team should avoid getting physical. Not at all, get physical and get mean, but do it within the limits of the rulebook. Do not give in to frustration no matter how much they want to get under your skin. If the Carolina Hurricanes can do that, the frustration will end up being on the Rangers end, which will lead to mistakes and scoring opportunities for the Hurricanes.

At the end of the day, they need this game much more than we do. If the Carolina Hurricanes can play the game cleanly, they will be the ones celebrating at tonight’s end.