Thoughts From My Couch

After a daunting seven-game series with the Boston Bruins that featured seven home wins, the Canes turned their attention to the team they fought to the very end with for the division crown, the New York Rangers. New York was also coming off a tough seven-game series of their own against the Pittsburgh Penguins that started with a three-overtime game and ended with an overtime-winner from Artemi Panarin in Game 7. Along with a strong offense led by Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and 52-goal-scorer Chris Kreider, they also feature the Vezina-frontrunner in the net with Igor Shesterkin. It was bound to be a tough series and that's exactly what we got. At the end of the day, things didn't end the way the Canes wanted them to, but we can't dwell on the past anymore. We must appreciate this season for what it was. Here is my look back at the series against New York and my look at my three stars for the postseason. The Series Game 1- Despite being held scoreless for most of the game, t...

Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the  Florida Panthers, 4-0 I read a tweet after Game 4 ended that the Panthers played this series like they won their first series in 26 years and didn't know what to do next. While it's a bit of an oversimplification, they didn't look like they could do anything against the Lightning for four games and that's thanks in large part to the man in the net. The Panthers' offense disappeared and it led to the series being a wash. Florida actually led Game 1 after the first period, getting a goal from Anthony Duclair, to make everyone optimistic the Panthers could actually do it. That feeling didn't last very long as the power play of the Bolts came to play in the final 40 minutes. They converted three times and Andrei Vasilevskiy didn't allow another goal to give the Lightning a 4-1 win to take the lead on the road. Game 2 was Florida's best chance to win a game in hindsight. Tampa's power play got another goal in the first peri...

Well, here we are again. It wasn't but a little over two weeks ago that we were in this exact same situation. Game 7. At home. However, this time it's against a much different opponent. It isn't much of a stretch to say the Canes are a little lucky to be in this situation. The home games against Boston were blowouts, but the games against New York have been tight at PNC Arena. They fought back late in the third period to win Game 1 in overtime. Games 2 and 5 were both tight, though the Canes were the better team in both. New York owns the momentum again after a dominant win in Game 6, forcing Antti Raanta to the bench after three goals and winning the game 5-2 to force this deciding game. This is the second Game 7 for both teams this postseason. The Canes won Game 7 at home against Boston, while the Rangers needed overtime to finish the Penguins off at Madison Square Garden. They've both been forced to the brink in the postseason, so they know that today could be their ...

Just like in the first round, the Canes are playing the last road game of the series with a chance to advance. This time there is more on the line with a trip to the Eastern Conference Final on the horizon. The Rangers and 60 minutes are all that stand in the way of the Canes. It's a big task, especially for a team that has been night and day depending on the venue. At PNC Arena, the Canes are perfect, but they've yet to win a game on the road between their two series, starting 0-5 and being outplayed in each. Their special teams have been a major sore spot in those road games. The Canes earned their 3-2 series lead with a 3-1 victory in Raleigh on Thursday night. Vincent Trocheck, Teuvo Teravainen, and Andrei Svechnikov scored the goals for the Canes, each scoring at a different strength, while Artemi Panarin scored the lone goal for the Rangers on the power play as Antti Ranta continued to play like a brick wall at home. The lineups will look the same for both teams, as the s...

Before writing this introduction, I went back to look at how I reacted after Game 4 and before Game 5 against Boston. I was very optimistic that the Canes could get the job done against Boston in a best-of-three situation. While I hold the same feelings about this series with the Rangers, I can't lie that this time around I'm a little more concerned about the Canes' chances. While I didn't think their effort in New York was as bad as it was in Boston, it doesn't erase the fact that they weren't able to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead and now face a big game tonight. The Rangers dominated Game 4 from the jump, winning the game 4-1 to even the series as the stars of the Rangers played well for the second game in a row. Teuvo Teravainen scored the lone goal for the Canes. Otherwise, Igor Shesterkin played like the Vezina goalie he was all season. He's helped play the Rangers back into the series and his equally stellar performances in Raleigh for Games 1 an...

The Rangers cut into the Canes' series lead on Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win, so we know for sure the series is heading back to Raleigh. Now it comes down to whether they'll need to go ahead and book a return flight to New York. However, today is a new day and the Canes are looking to come one win closer to a date with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final and making an appearance for the second time in four seasons. Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider came alive in the series, each scoring in New York's win. They'd been held to nothing in Games 1 and 2, so seeing them get going wasn't a welcome sight. Igor Shesterkin had an answer for almost everything the Canes threw at it, the only exception being a backhand shot from Nino Niederreiter in the second period that snuck under his arm. It was the first time in the series that Shesterkin outplayed Antti Raanta, who played well in Game 3 despite the loss. The Canes' struggles on the road continued ...

The series is heading up north for a two-game trip to Madison Square Garden and the Canes are in familiar territory. Just like they did against Boston, the Canes defended home ice and pulled out two very tough wins against the Rangers to put themselves two wins away from another berth into the Eastern Conference Final. Now the hard part begins as they enter an arena with rabid fans that aren't going to take too kindly to them. Against Boston, the team lost focus, became undisciplined, and lost both games. Today, it's going to be about doing everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen again. Game 2 was much different than Game 1 for the Canes. Instead of waiting until the third period to show up, they looked like the sharper team for a majority of the 60 minutes. They didn't score until late in the second period on a short-handed goal by Brendan Smith, but they held tough defensively and Sebastian Aho scored with 1.8 left in the third period to secure a 2-0 win ...

The first game of this series on Wednesday night was one of the most-exciting finishes Raleigh has seen in the last few postseasons. Igor Shesterkin kept the Canes off the board for almost 60 minutes, while Filip Chytil scored early to put the Canes behind in a game on home ice for the first time in five games. The Rangers were the better team through the first two periods, but something clicked for the Canes in the third. They took control of the game and came inches away from tying it twice had it not been for the iron surrounding the net. After Rod Brind'Amour shuffled his lines around a little, the top line finally broke through with Sebastian Aho picking up his own rebound and tying the game with less than 2:30 left in regulation. Neither team wanted to win the game in regulation, so the Canes had forced their way into overtime for the first time this postseason. Just over three minutes into the extra frame, noted goal scorer Ian Cole spun and threw a shot on the net that defl...

It feels like just yesterday that these two teams were fighting for the Metropolitan Divison crown. After playing twice in the final month, the Hurricanes and the Rangers are now set to lock horns in a best-of-seven series for the right to represent the division in the Eastern Conference Final. The Canes are coming off a huge Game 7 win over the Bruins on Saturday night, finally overcoming the Bruins after two previous losses in the last four years. The series between the Bruins and the Canes was all about home ice, with the home team winning all seven games in the series. None of the games were particularly close until the final game. With Frederik Andersen out for the first round, Antti Raanta had to step up and play a huge role. He won three of the four games the Canes took in the series, with Pyotr Kochetkov stepping up to play Games 2 and 3 when Raanta went down early in Game 2. The Canes' attack offensively was extremely balanced, with four players tying for the team lead wit...

The history of the Bruins and Hurricanes in the postseason is well-documented. Even back in the days of the Whalers, these two teams have gone to war several times, but recent history has not been on the Canes' side. The Bruins had gone 8-1 in the last two postseason series against the Canes, so the third meeting in four postseasons was going to make this an absolute barnburner of a series. The one big difference is that home ice was going to be in the Canes' favor for the first time in a long time. Starting the series in Raleigh was going to be big for a team that loves playing in front of the Caniacs. As we'd come to find out, that fact alone was going to be the biggest factor in the series. Here is my game-by-game breakdown of the series through headlines, similar to how I did it for the final two months of the season, as well as my three stars of the series for the Canes, and my preview of the second matchup we have to look forward to. The Series Game 1 - The Canes come...

This may have been one of the most exciting first rounds we've seen in a long time. All but one of the eight matchups in this opening round went at least six games and five of them needed a Game 7. There were some surprise individual performances from the forwards and defensemen, but it was the goaltending situations for some teams that became the talk of the town. Several backups and third-string goalies saw time in several series. There were also very few series that had consecutive tight games. The offenses came out to play as the playoffs kicked off and it made for some entertaining television. I tried to watch as much as I could every night because there were four games almost every night. The NHL has become can't miss television in the first two weeks, so here's what happened.  Florida Panthers defeat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 The headline is going to read that the Florida Panthers won their first postseason series since winning the Eastern Conference Final in 1996...