Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Tying up the Series in Game Two

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Bruins in game two tonight

The Carolina Hurricanes are looking for some gam two vengeance and a way to tie up the series at one apiece against the Boston Bruins.

Yesterday was not a fun game. Not by a country mile. Between the terrible no-goal that was missed, the missed calls, and the Carolina Hurricanes flat out playing terribly, there was not much to enjoy. tonight this team gets to try and redeem itself and turn this best of seven into a best of five.

We already knew the Boston Bruins weren’t going to be a pushover team, but if yesterday’s game was truly the worst game of the series, Carolina won’t be the team leaving the bubble when the dust settles.

https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1294019313716920320

The Boys are ready to go and take this series to Boston starting tonight. They have already shown a stellar record on the second half of back to back games thanks to their conditioning and strength training afforded to them by Coach Bill Burniston and the motivation a given to them by Rod Brind’amour who didn’t censor his feelings about the game yesterday and was fined for doing so.

That is where we will start on our keys to taking control of the series away from the Bruins.

1. Feed off of Rod’s Energy

Twenty-five thousand dollars. That is the cost of the truth and the fine given to Rod Brind’amour who came out yesterday and called the league a joke and yesterday’s goal against the Hurricanes after Petr Mrazek covered the puck a “crime scene”.

To be honest, Rod is completely right. The league fined him anyway, but the team got the last laugh in this incredible check, signed by Tom Dundon, used to pay it off.

This isn’t settled however, that goal still counted, the Carolina Hurricanes still went on the kill even though thanks to some excellent killing by Brock McGinn, got the equalizer.

The bad officiating continued into the overtime periods where Brady Skjei got slashed and the refs ignored it, even with Skjei holding a broken stick in his hands. Fast forward a few minutes into the game and the Bruins managed to skate away with an undeserved 1-0 lead in the series.

Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes have to come into this game with a vengeance. Like they forgot a few (clean) hits from yesterday’s game. Like they are an unstoppable force that the Bruins never could have anticipated.

They have to come into tonight’s game angry and upset. They cannot settle for just winning the game, they have to dominate the Bruins in all three zones of the ice and do so with tenacity. Just like how they responded to Rangers talking about sweeping them, they have to respond to the Bruins cheating their way through the series.

That starts by shutting them down on defense.

2. Box out the Bruins

The Carolina Hurricanes defense yesterday was atrocious. They left the cross-ice passes open and the shooting lanes about as trafficked as the massage parlor is around these days. Tonight they need to gridlock all of that down and deny the Bruins anything but low danger chances at whoever is in the net, be it Mrazek or James Reimer.

That means any and all players need to backcheck whenever the Bruins are trying to take the zone. No more puck watching. No more waiting to see if someone else can get the puck and spring you into an odd-man rush.

There is a small chance that Sami Vatanen who has been excellent during the Rangers series, makes a return to the lineup tonight. Even if he doesn’t return, the rest of the defenders on the deepest defense in the NHL need to step up and close out any high danger opportunities for Boston or make room for someone who can.

Trevor Van Riemsdyk has yet to get a chance to play since March. Just a fact.

There is no room for mental lapses against a team like Boston. If this team can clean up their act and close out the defensive zone, forcing Boston to actually earn any and all goals they may happen to score, Carolina will be set up for a win.

But the defensive zone isn’t the only way to play defense, keeping the puck in the Bruins zone and playing with serious forecheck can always supplement. After all, the best defense is a good offense.

3. Build upon Offensive Zone Play

Twenty-eight shots. In over 80 minutes of game time, the Carolina Hurricanes only had 28 shots on goal. Even as the winning goaltender in double overtime Tuuka Rask still had a below 0.900 save percentage. The Hurricanes simply didn’t generate enough offense to win yesterday, all other things aside.

Tonight they will have to find their offensive touch. They already know they can get the puck past Rask, they just need the offensive volume to do so. That starts with a much better forecheck and patience with the puck in the zone.

Each of the three goals had that yesterday, even the breakaway goal from Brock McGinn. He slowed down, showed off his hands a bit, and completely fooled Rask before dumping the puck behind him and into the net. That has to be repeated today and it has to be done consistently.

The Carolina Hurricanes have to get clean entries into the zone and keep the puck there. They did that effectively against the Rangers, leading not only to more Carolina Hurricanes goals, but also to fewer Rangers goals courtesy of the lack of Ranger offense.

Tonight they have to keep the Bruins’ best players from generating offense and waste away their shifts trying to keep Carolina from consistently scoring on Rask. That starts with more shots on goal, slower more controlled movement within the zone, and tenacity on the forecheck to keep the puck from leaving the said zone.

If the Carolina Hurricanes can combine these three keys successfully, they will coast to a game two win and get their first win of the series.