Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Stealing Game One From Boston

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Bruins in game one tonight

The Carolina Hurricanes are going into tonight looking to continue a winning streak that began last week. Here are the Three keys to beating Boston in Game one.

Didn’t the playoffs start last week? Regardless, tonight is the first game of the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with the first round opponent being the same Boston Bruins who bounced the Carolina Hurricanes from the Eastern Conference Finals last year. This time, the Canes will be looking for some serious payback.

But to get that payback, the Carolina Hurricanes have to be mentally and physically prepared for some more bubble hockey against a team that is nowhere near the pushovers the New York Rangers were.

But this is a new season and these are not the same Carolina Hurricanes that saw themselves get swept to prematurely end a magical season. No, this is a much better Carolina Hurricanes team that is here to respond in force and send the Bruins packing.

But to do that they will have to dig deep on the ice and within themselves to continue to play the level of hockey that sent the Rangers well on their way out of the bubble in only four days. That starts with these three keys.

1. Discipline and Powerplay Scoring

The Rangers were around the same level as the Hurricanes on the powerplay and their kill was absolutely abysmal during the regular season. The same cannot be said about the powerhouse Boston Bruins.

The three round-robin games aside, this is still the most dangerous team in the league that managed to win the President’s Trophy. But they did that by being dominant on both sides of the special teams.

The Bruins finished the shortened season as both the second-best powerplay behind the Edmonton Oilers and the second-best penalty kill behind the San Jose Sharks. The Carolina Hurricanes had the eighth-best powerplay and the fourth-best penalty kill in comparison.

That means the Hurricanes will have to be on their best behavior and avoid the box as much as humanly possible to keep the Bruins from flexing their ability to score on the powerplay while also maximizing their powerplay advantages to get as much scoring as their top powerplay lines can manage. Having Dougie Hamilton back in the line-up will go a long way towards that.

If they can manage that, they can keep the Bruins on their heels and use their self-generated energy, the same energy we saw against the Rangers, to focus their offense and force the Bruins to make the mistakes needed to own the game and hopefully the series.

But that starts by getting some vulcanized rubber behind a very good Finnish goalie.

2. Dance the Puck Past Tuukka

Tuukka Rask was a huge part of the reason the Carolina Hurricanes got swept last season. His ability to mend the net well during clutch games has elevated the Bruins all year. But he isn’t unbeatable.

In fact, he is only the 29th best goalie in save percentage during the qualifying round coming in behind both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. But do not forget that during the season he was the sixth-best, boasting a .929 save percentage and a slim 2.12 Goals allowed average. His history against Carolina has been excellent as of late too.

But just like Henrik Lundqvist, Igor Shestyorkin, and any of the past goalies we have met in the playoffs that had good records with the Hurricanes before, they can and will be beaten. That means that Rask is also due to be beaten as well.

The Hurricanes will have to respond the same way they did before, with the first goal nice and early to build momentum off of. If they can achieve that, they can achieve success against this Boston team and perhaps force them to turn to a less lethal Jaroslav Halak to try and force a shift in momentum.

But just like Igor didn’t get anything to work for the Rangers, don’t expect a team that can beat Rask to not have an answer for Halak. Let the young guns rip it and continue to utilize the powerplay to generate the high danger chances that guys like Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho seem to love to create in the most inopportune times for the opposition.

Do that and Rask will be nothing more than a speed bump on the way to the second round.

3. Play Carolina Hockey, Not Boston Hockey

Last season’s series against the Bruins fell off the rails hard when even noted Captain and gentleman Justin Williams was caught doing naughty things and penalized for it. That was because noted rodent and troublemaker Brad Marchand managed to get under his skin and into his head.

Let’s not repeat that mistake.

On neutral ice, even during away games, the Carolina Hurricanes can play their own version of the game and control the flow of the game. If they give in the Bruins and their reputation for stirring trouble, especially during the playoffs, then they will be sitting in the penalty box and behind in the score too much for their own like. Just ask Toronto fans.

By the way, welcome to all the new Carolina Hurricanes fans living in Toronto, enjoy the ride.

Back to Carolina Hockey; the Hurricanes need to ensure that they ignore the shenanigans long enough to force the Bruins to make the mistakes that will send them to the box or put them out of positioning and allow for the scoring lanes to open up for Carolina’s star players. Guys like Jaccob Slavin share to give their ability to be patient to the rest of the team.

Again, this is a Bruins team that plays mind games. The Hurricanes need to show them that they should have focused on playing hockey instead. They do that and the Bruins will be regretting it all on the bus ride back to Boston.