Carolina Hurricanes First Round Review and Second Round Preview

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 out and set the tone of the series, getting five goals from five different scorers as Raanta stops 35 shots in a 5-1 win for the Canes. 

Game 2- The hatred boils over in Game 2 as the Canes go 2-for-9 on the power play in another dominant win, taking a 2-0 series lead with two goals each from Aho and Niederreiter in a 5-2 win.

Game 3- Boston, spearheaded by their home crowd, get themselves back into the series by beating up on rookie Pyotr Kochetkov, winning 4-2 with the help of three goals from their special teams.

Game 4- Brad Marchand's two-goal, five-point afternoon propels the Bruins to a 5-2 win with the power play scoring two more times to send the series back to Raleigh even at two games apiece. 

Game 5- Carolina pushes Boston to the brink of elimination with a dominant 5-1 win behind two goals from Jarvis and a trio of Canes scoring three points.

Game 6- The Bruins force Game 7 with three goals in the third period in front of their home fans in a 5-2 win as the series heads back to Raleigh with both teams' seasons on the line.

Game 7- Max Domi plays the hero for the Canes with two goals in the second period to help the Canes clinch the series with a 3-2 win to end the Bruins' season.

Canes' Three Staes of the Series

Third Star- Tony DeAngelo (1 Goal, 7 Assists, +6, 4 PPP in 7 Games)

DeAngelo finished the series with two three-point performances, but the spotlight was put on him after his actions at the end of Game 4. He'd played a pedestrian two games in Boston, so he needed to respond in a major way back in Raleigh for Game 5. He did exactly that, scoring a goal and setting up two more to earn a huge win. His seven assists and four power play points were the most for the team in the series and his eight points were tied for the most. 

Second Star- Vincent Trocheck (3 Goals, 4 Assists, +6, 20 Hits in 7 Games) 

There were forwards for the Canes that had more notable performances, but Trocheck was the epitome of consistency through all seven games. He's tied for the team lead in goals with three other players, and his seven points are tied with Teuvo Teravainen for second-most. He, like DeAngelo, finished with an impressive three-point performance in Game 5, as well as a multi-point game in Game 1 to set the tone for the Canes. 

First Star- Jaccob Slavin (2 Goals, 6 Assists, +10, 13 Blocks, 23:02 ATOI in 7 Games)

You might as well call him Captain Consistency because that's exactly what Slavin was from start to finish against Boston's best players. He tied DeAngelo for the team lead in points, was on the ice more than any other player on the team, and recorded a point in six of the seven games. He contributed two points in the final game and held the top line to nothing as the Canes finished off the Bruins. This team wouldn't be where they are without his performance. 

Second Round Matchup Preview: New York Rangers

It's fitting that we get a series between the two teams that clawed their way to the finish in the Metropolitan Divison race before the Canes ultimately won it in the final week. Now we're getting a best of seven against two teams that already don't like each other very much. Here's a quick look back at the four meetings this season. 

1/21- Tony DeAngelo records three points, including a power play goal in the third period, in his first game against the Rangers since signing with the Canes in the offseason. Sebastian Aho also finished with three points as the Canes put six goals on Alexander Georgiev and only allowed 23 shots in a 6-3 win. Six different Canes scored a goal and ten players recorded a point. 

3/20- Alexander Georgiev responds to his loss in January by stopping all 44 shots the Canes fired at him to record the shutout and steal a win at PNC Arena. Chris Kreider picked up his 41st goal of the season to open the scoring in the second period and Frank Vatrano added the empty-net goal in the 2-0 win for the Rangers on the road. 

4/12- The Canes make their first appearance at Madison Square Garden as Frederik Andersen and Igor Shesterkin meet for the first time. K'Andre Miller opens the scoring in the second period, but the Canes scored three unanswered to take a 3-1 lead early in the third period. Chris Kreider would score his 50th of the season, but Sebastian Aho finish his three-point night with an empty-net goal to secure a 4-2 win and two hug points for the Canes. 

4/26- The Canes returned to New York with a rookie in the net and the division on the line. The Canes opened up a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes, added a fourth goal early in the third period, and withstood a late push from the Rangers to hold onto a 4-3 win to secure another huge win for Pyotr Kochetkov, the Metropolitan Division for the first time, and a division title for the second straight season. 

This will be the second time the Hurricanes and Rangers have met in the postseason, the first coming in a best-of-five series in the bubble in Toronto as the league returned to play after a long break due to COVID. Here's a quick breakdown of that series with the two teams looking quite different than they will now.

2020 Qualifying Round

The Canes and Rangers would play the first game in the Toronto bubble to open the postseason and things started quickly in Game 1. Jaccob Slavin opened the scoring at 1:01 of the first period on Henrik Lundqvist. Not long after that goal, trade deadline acquisition from the Rangers, Brady Skjei, laid a massive hit on Jesper Fast, now a Hurricane, but then a Ranger, and it would be enough to knock him out of the series. The Canes would jump out to a 3-1 lead midway through the third period and hold on to win Game 1 3-2 behind 24 saves from Petr Mrazek. In Game 2, the Rangers tried their best to keep things close from the jump. They responded to a goal from Andrei Svechnikov with a power play goal from Artemi Panarin to make the game 1-1 after the first period. It would be all Hurricanes from there as they scored three unanswered, including two more from Svechnikov to complete the franchise's first postseason hat trick in a 4-1 win to take a 2-0 series lead. Little did we all know that Game 2 would be the final game of Lundqvist's career as they opted to play their backup goalie Igor Shesterkin in Game 3 to try and turn the momentum. The Canes, up 2-0 and opting to rest their starter, turned to James Reimer in Game 3 to get him some time after the long break. No one scored in the first period, but Chris Kreider scored 12 seconds into the second period to give the Rangers their first lead of the series. Teuvo Teravainen responded with his first goal of the postseason just over three minutes later to even things up and the remainder of the game was just like the first two. Warren Foegele broke the tie in the third period and Sebastian Aho would score two more, including the now infamous goal where he undresses current teammate Tony DeAngelo before beating Shesterkin on the backhand. The Canes would go on to win 4-1 and complete the three-game sweep. Aho led all scorers with eight points, while the Rangers had four players tied with two points as they only managed four goals on the tandem of Mrazek and Reimer. 

What to look for this time around

The 2020 Rangers and 2022 Rangers have very similar names, but they're very different teams. Igor Shesterkin only got one shot at the Canes in the qualifying round in 2020, but now he has the reins in the net for the Rangers. This is not going to be the easy series it was for the Canes just under two years ago. Both teams are coming off two seven-game series that took a lot out of each team. The Canes will have the extra day of rest since they finished their series on Saturday, while the Rangers played in overtime on Sunday. I don't think that will mean as much as home ice will for the Canes to start the series. The Canes showed that they are tough to beat at home, but didn't perform to nearly the same level on the road. For a team that historically doesn't have the best track record at Madison Square Garden, that could be a problem. While they beat the Rangers both times they met in New York, they did the same thing to Boston and it didn't mean anything in the first round. I think this series is very winnable for the Canes after they exercised their demons against the Bruins, but this series could easily go the distance. Give me the Canes in a tight one, winning in seven games to advance to their fourth Eastern Conference Final.