3 reasons the Carolina Hurricanes can be optimistic heading into Game 2 vs. the Isles
New York may have gotten the “good game’ out of the way
Much like the Hurricanes could have done away with their “bad game,” the opposite could be true about the Islanders. New York allowed the Hurricanes to challenge Semyon Varlamov just 25 times, and it was rather uncharacteristic of a team that allowed the fourth-most shots on net throughout the regular season.
New York also found ways to get around the Hurricanes defense and make life tough for Andersen, and it didn’t phase him too much - though the iron helped him out a few times. Regardless, the Isles lost this game by a pair of scores, and you can argue that they played a better game.
On paper, this one should have been lopsided, as the Hurricanes averaged over 33 shots on goal per contest while the Isles ranked among the worst in the league in shots against, among other differences. New York also doesn't match up well with the high-scorers that we all know the Hurricanes have, like Sebastian Aho, Jake Guentzel, Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teravainen, and Martin Necas, to name a little more than a few.
If everything edges toward the median, don’t expect the Isles to play such a good game the next time these two teams meet, assuming the Hurricanes made the proper adjustments.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)