The Background
On March 10, 2020, the Carolina Hurricanes were coming off a 5-2 victory in Detroit to extend their win streak to three games. Less than 48 hours later, the sports world came to a screeching halt. The prevalence and spread of the coronavirus prompted the league to stop, with about a month left in the regular season.
At the time of the stoppage, the Hurricanes were locked in an intense battle in the Metropolitan Division. While the top three in the division had separated from the rest of the pack, four teams sat within two points of each other, with the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets leading the second wave with 81 points. Sebastian Aho looked to be on pace to break Eric Staal's single-season goals record, sitting tied for sixth in the league with 38 goals. Unfortunately, reality hit hard, putting the season on the back burner for the moment.
As the months at home dragged on, rumblings around the league suggested that a return to play was in place. The result would see two postseason bubbles formed, one in Toronto for the Eastern Conference and one in Edmonton for the Western Conference. The Top 12 teams in each conference, based on points percentage, would come together for a one-of-a-kind tournament. The Top 4 teams in each conference would compete in a round-robin style schedule to determine their seeding, while the remaining teams met in best-of-five series to advance to the first round.
The Hurricanes would enter the Toronto bubble with the conference's sixth-best points percentage. This meant they'd be facing the 11th seed in the Qualifying Round. However, this wasn't a low-level opponent. The Canes were matched up against the New York Rangers, who finished the season just two points behind them and were led by 41-goal scorer Mika Zibanejad. Plus, the Rangers had owned the Hurricanes during the regular season, winning all four meetings.
Before meeting head-to-head, the Canes and Rangers would play warm-up games against the Capitals and Islanders, respectively. This would mark their first game action in over four months. Alex Ovechkin scored twice to help the Capitals defeat the Canes 3-2, while the Rangers fell 2-1 to their in-state rivals. This is all the preparations they would get before going into battle against one another.