Cardiac Cane
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Carolina Hurricane: Keys to Forcing Game Six Against Boston

By Omar Abdelgawad

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 15: Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins and Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes battle for the opening face-off of the first period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 15, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 15: Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins and Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes battle for the opening face-off of the first period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 15, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes attempts to deflect the puck past Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes attempts to deflect the puck past Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

2. Slow the game down in the offensive zone

The Carolina Hurricanes need to slow down their game in the offensive zone.

I feel that every time the Carolina Hurricanes enter the offensive zone, the either quickly lob a weak shot on goal or are giving up the puck and politely ushered back into the neutral zone. This team needs to slow down their game and hold the zone. The longer Boston sits in their own defensive zone the quicker they fall apart.

The three teams that picked them apart in the round-robin did that very well. Tampa, Philadelphia, and Washington each managed to keep the puck in the offensive zone and hang around long enough. They did that enough times and it didn’t matter how was in net for Boston, they managed to find the back of it with the puck.

There is a reason Boston brings more pressure whenever Carolina enters the zone, they don’t want to be in it for very long. If Carolina can figure out how to hold the zone, they can make Boston pay for going out of their way to bring the body and pressure to the puck holder.

Clean passing and smart forechecking can quickly expose the shooting lanes that Boston is leaving open. There should be enough footage now that Rod Brind’Amour and his team can identify where the puck can be passed to take advantage of these shooting lanes and get more than one puck behind Halak and secure a decisive victory.

They need this win tonight more than anything right now. They need to do it to give their fallen teammate a chance to return to the game this year.

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