Carolina Hurricanes: 3 keys to beating the New York Islanders

Oh have I missed these. Carolina return to the ice for a regular-season game for the first time this season. We have missed Carolina Hurricanes hockey and we get to go back to the old Metropolitan division, with a familiar foe for game 1. Carolina’s season opener against the New York Islanders sees two of the best teams in the division go head to head in what could be a very early playoff preview.

Obviously, there will be some rust for both teams. Neither team has played a competitive game since being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoffs last season. Both will be looking for retribution as they go head to head tonight at PNC Arena. Carolina will look to get two points to kick off the season against a difficult Islanders crew to overcome.

New York is a formidable opponent. Fresh off extending defenseman Ryan Pulock for big money, the Carolina Hurricanes are going to be tasked with beating the Long Island inhabitants and their difficult system. We all know the Islanders are perhaps the best team in the NHL at compensating for their weaknesses, and they will have a different look tonight at PNC Arena.

We know that Carolina will want to start the season on a winning note and beating the Islanders would set the tone for the season. There’s no easy game in the NHL, and a team that has only been bested by the Stanley Cup Champions in each of the last two years promises to be a great opponent for the Canes on opening night at PNC Arena. Here are the three keys to how to beat the New York Islanders.

Frederik Andersen

Carolina’s first key to beating a fantastic opponent like New York will be stable protection in the crease. With the Hurricanes having two new netminders, tonight will be a great chance for Frederik Andersen to prove himself to the Caniacs across the world. There’s already a lot of questions being asked about him as a number one going forward.

Freddie was not re-signed by Toronto after an injury-riddled year with the Maple Leafs. He has taken a pay cut from what he was making in Toronto to sign in Carolina and will be given a chance to prove that the Toronto Maple Leafs were wrong to discard him. We all know the talent Andersen has, he’s shown it against the Hurricanes on many occasions.

Andersen will be asked to stop the Islanders’ top six. A very talented team, the Islanders boast a strong forward core and they will be sure to generate chances. Carolina’s defensive unit will need to come up big, but Andersen has to be prepared to clean up the pieces that defensemen cannot handle. With so many great players on the Islanders, this is a very difficult task for both Andersen and the defenders.

We know that Andersen’s calming presence is always there and behind the Carolina backend. However, tonight is slightly different. Andersen is going to be asked to stop shots in a competitive game at PNC Arena in front of a raging crowd. That’s a difficult task for any netminder. Shaking off the nerves and rust is going to be vital for Andersen and very important for the Hurricanes.

If Freddie cannot hold the fort and Carolina are down early, then we will likely see Andersen pulled and get a glimpse of Antti Raanta. Raanta’s issue has always been his health, when he is in the net, he’s very capable of stopping pucks and making big saves. There’s a very capable tandem in Carolina this season, but seeing Raanta tonight would be a really bad sign going forward.

True star talent

With the likes of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina is lucky to boast two of the great talents of the game in their positions. That is something the New York Islanders do not have the luxury of doing. We know that the Carolina Hurricanes have this top-end talent because we’ve seen that Carolina has the ability to get bailed out by their stars when they’re in trouble.

It’s going to be important for Carolina that this talent comes out and dominates the Islanders’ defensive structure. If the Islanders are allowed to set up their structure and get into the flow of their defensive game with their netminders behind looking to shut the door, then Carolina will be in for a tough game. Carolina will need their stars to get on the board and early.

Svechnikov is also playing his first game after receiving his new deal worth $7.75 million over 8 years. In order to get that deal, the team has put a lot of faith in him and his abilities moving forward. Now that he is a big-money player, he is going to be expected to come through in the big moments for this team when they need him most.

It’s no secret that Carolina’s two true talents are going to be a big factor in this game. When Carolina plays, the SAT line is always a major factor in the game, and the team normally goes how the line does. If the line starts to play well, the team is usually victorious. If the team struggles, usually it’s because the line has been sufficiently shut down. That’s just how it goes. They set the pace.

One more big-time player to keep an eye on, not just tonight but through the season is Martin Necas. He’s at the end of his contract but has started to become a human highlight reel going forward. Necas started to emerge as a true scary talent last year and came through in the clutch for the Carolina Hurricanes. Now there are questions regarding his ability to do it through a season.

There are 82 games this season, the Hurricanes are going to need Svechnikov and Aho to break open as many of those games as they can, but the more stars the Canes can throw at opponents, the better the chances the teams have of winning those games. It’s a positive for the team going forward, and it will increase the chances of the team bringing home the Stanley Cup.