The Hurricanes Win When They Play Their Less Physical Game

Before the final horn had stopped blowing on the Carolina Hurricanes’ 4-3 win over the New York Islanders in the Game 2 of Round 1, Canes fans were all over social media about the way the Islanders played. Multiple Hurricanes left the ice to be checked out including Jordan Staal, Brett Pesce, Jack Drury and Teuvo Teräväinen.  We all are now aware of what happened with Teräväinen, and are thankful he is already on the way to recovery.

The Islanders’ win in New York in Game 3 was maybe the least physical of the games of the to that point, in that nothing serious was reported. Still to paraphrase Slap Shot the Canes knew the Islanders “were there.” Ask Martin Necas if you want.

Game 4 was less physical that the previous three but, Jack Drury left with a likely concussion and could be out for Game 5 in Raleigh.

Wither the hits are dirty, like the majority of those in Game 2, or just questionable, like the one sending Necas into the Islanders’ bench in Game 3, the Hurricanes can only make the Islanders pay for those hits by staying on the ice.

Or should I say, staying on the ice and scoring. 

And that is exactly what the Hurricanes have done. With 5 goals with the man advantage, Carolina’s power play has suddenly sputtered to life, playing like it hasn’t in some time.

Even with this success, retaliation has to be secondary because it plays hard into the Islander’s game play. And runs the risk of backing the penalty kill units into a corner.

Even though Carolina’s PK units have a kill rate of 84.% (2nd best in the NHL) the reliance on them is dangerous at best and catastrophic at worst. Looking past the Islanders for the briefest of seconds, the Hurricanes are likely to face teams with much more dangerous powerplay units than New York. New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Boston all have PPs over 21%. The New Jersey Devils (the lowest of the potential second round opponents) is 6.1% more effective on the PP than New York so the Hurricanes’ PK will have its work cut out for it without the extra work.

Be it against the Islanders or in later rounds, the Carolina Hurricanes, individually or as a team, are not built for crashing boards and slamming bodies.

In Game 5, the Hurricanes need to continue making move away from from unnecessary physicality, and making the Islanders pay for their physical play. Doing so, and keeping New York shorthanded will mean Carolina’s PK  is not be called on ALL of the time in tight spots. A lucky bounce against an otherwise good Hurricanes PK could be the difference between a win, and having to go back to New York.