Carolina Hurricanes: 3 keys to keep winning streak against Boston
In their last game, the Carolina Hurricanes improved to 5-0-0 on the young season with an impressive 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tonight, Carolina will face their toughest test of the season as the 3-2 Boston Bruins come into town, looking to make amends for their tough loss last night at the hands, or paws, of the Florida Panthers.
Boston lost a tough game to Florida last night and is coming into this game on the second half of a back-to-back with travel. They’re going to be tired, but they cannot be taken lightly. Carolina needs to play to the best of their abilities tonight as they themselves embark on the first half of a back-to-back, with Chicago waiting for them tomorrow night.
Carolina knows that tonight will be the first time they have played the B’s since the 2020 playoff bubble where Carolina was dispatched in 5 games. If the Hurricanes are going to improve to 6-0-0 and set a new franchise record to start the season, they will need to be on their game tonight against the new-look Bruins.
Why did I call them the new-look Bruins? Well, there’s no 6’10 Czech monster on the blueline anymore. They’ve lost their longtime second-line center to retirement. They have two new netminders behind their defense. This is a very different team to the one that the Hurricanes met in the bubble, and that doesn’t include what Boston lost in the expansion draft.
This is a Boston team that is weaker than years past, and we’re going to get a good look tonight at this. With the team tired and traveling in from Sunrise, Florida, Carolina has a chance to expose some vital flaws in the Bostonian beast that will meet them tonight. So, here’s how the Carolina Hurricanes can improve to 6-0-0 on the season tonight.
Staal-ing the Bruins
With the Hurricanes being the home team and getting the last change, matchups will be an important part of this game. With that in mind, we all know about Boston’s perfection line. Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak. They can kill you on their own. This isn’t to belittle the rest of the Bruins attackers, but this is by far the three-headed monster.
Carolina will need a line capable of dealing with that constant pursuit and pressure from that line. When you need a forward on the Carolina Hurricanes who are defensively responsible, does anyone else come to mind but the captain Jordan Staal? He’s easily the best defensive player on the team and one of the best in the division. He’s talented when it comes to his own end.
You will never get a lot in terms of production from Jordan, but he’s going to give you a strong defensive performance every time he is on the ice. He’s not the best in terms of his hands, but he knows where to put himself in order to make it very difficult to beat him defensively. He’s also as strong as an ox and knows how to use his 6’4 frame to his advantage with and without the puck.
Staal’s line is going to be tasked with shutting down that Boston top unit. It’s not going to be an easy task, but it’s very important if the Carolina Hurricanes want to have success tonight against Boston. Their bottom nine is strong, but not nearly as deadly as their “perfection line”. It’s arguably one of the best lines in the NHL today.
Take advantage of a tired team
I mentioned in the introduction that Carolina is playing a Bostonian unit coming off a loss in Sunrise, Florida last night. They’re traveling from Florida to Carolina on the second half of a back-to-back. They’re going to come out one of two ways. Either Boston will turn up tonight and want to kill the Carolina Hurricanes to prove their good, or they’ll be tired and demoralized.
If the Bruins turn up and are tired, or still carrying some of the load from last night’s game, then Carolina will need to just play like we’ve seen them up to this point of the season and they will be fine. A tired team, even one as good as Boston, will not be able to keep up with Carolina’s relentless forecheck if they’re playing to the best of their abilities.
However, if Boston comes into this game and Carolina starts looking ahead to Chicago tomorrow night, then this could become a very tricky game. This is the game where this group of 23 could set a record for the best start in franchise history, and they cannot assume it’s a done deal to a team that has plagued them in the post-season.
To avoid this, getting pucks in deep, getting physical in the corners, and winning battles for the puck is going to be vital. This will not be a game where Carolina can throw the puck to their stars and go “Add to your highlight reel”. This will need to be a victory ground out, but it’s very doable. If Carolina is at their best with 2 days’ rest, they should beat Boston straight up.
Start on time
The puck drop for this game is at 7 PM EST. Carolina needs to turn up on time. They cannot afford a slow start as we saw against Toronto. We know this team is capable of starting games on time. We’ve seen this team put games to bed inside the first 5 minutes before. We know that this is a very capable group of players who can play.
If Carolina is resting or trying to conserve energy through the first period, this game could be out of reach. PNC Arena has always been a little bit of a fortress under this coaching team, but the Boston Bruins have proved to know the secrets to win here and if they start early after their game yesterday, this could be trouble.
Be ready from the opening drop, make sure your first pass is clean, your first hit makes contact, your first shot is on target. Start as you mean to go on, and make sure that no matter what, you do not let a tired team like the Bruins get any form of respite. Everyone knows that this Bruins team has frailties. Expose them early, when they’re tired. This game will get easier as it goes on.
Well, that’s the three keys to this game folks! As I said, 7 PM EST is the time the game is supposed to start. This is the first game of a back-to-back, so I will be doing the takeaways piece tomorrow alongside the keys to the Chicago game, so please be lenient with me if it’s a little late, but for now, thank you for reading, and LET’S GO CANES!
dark. Next.