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The Carolina Hurricanes are coming out of a grueling seven game series with the Boston Bruins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In that series, the home team won all seven games, with the Hurricanes dominating on their home ice. Their excellent regular season earned them home ice advantage in that series and they will have it again against the division rival New York Rangers.
The Rangers are coming off of a tough, seven-game series themselves. They were trailing 3-1 in their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins and stormed back to win three straight. Surely, the Rangers will bring plenty of momentum into the conference semifinals against the Hurricanes. Carolina is going to need to be ready for that, as well as the physicality that they bring.
So, let's take a look at my Carolina Hurricanes three bold predictions for their conference semifinal series against the New York Rangers.
Carolina Hurricanes 3 Bold Predictions for Conference Semifinal Series vs. New York Rangers
1. Antti Raanta has solid series in net
The Hurricanes are still playing without their top goalie in Frederik Andersen. Andersen has been out just over a month with a lower body injury. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour recently said that he hopes Andersen can return at some point in the playoffs. However, he still has not practiced. Most close to the team believe that Andersen is likely out for this round at the very least.
So, the Hurricanes will have to rely on backup net minder Antti Raanta again. Even though he was the back up, he played pretty well against the Bruins in the first round, especially on home ice. In the four games played in Raleigh, Raanta allowed a total of four goals.
ICYMI: Carolina Hurricanes’ Antti Raanta turns Game 7 victory over Bruins into family affair https://t.co/5ZwOH20a4p
— Chip Alexander (@ice_chip) May 15, 2022
It certainly helps when you have the best defense in the NHL in front of you. Carolina allowed the least goals in the league this season with 202 over 82 games. Their ability to defend the slot and keep sight lines clear for Raanta will be key. They did a great job of that against Boston.
It also helps that the Rangers do not feature a line as talented as Boston's “Perfection Line” consisting of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.
2. Sebastian Aho comes alive vs. Rangers
In that series against Boston, it was the unheralded players that made the difference for Carolina. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo actually led the team with eight points each. But if the Hurricanes want to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, they are going to need Sebastian Aho to take it up a notch.
Aho scored two goals against the Bruins, but his offense will needed a bit more against New York.
The Hurricanes have reached the post season in each Aho's first four years of his career. He has 40 points in 41 career playoff games entering this series. That's some great consistency that Carolina will be counting on. It won't be easy. The Rangers also feature one of the best defenses in the NHL, including one of the best goalies in the league.
Igor Shesterkin was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league's best goaltender. But Aho had some big games against him this year. Carolina won two of the three meetings. In the Hurricanes victories, Aho scored twice and picked up four assists.
3. Carolina loses special teams battle emphatically
This season, Carolina posted one of the best penalty kill units in the league. They did not allow a goal over 85 percent of the time short handed. Meanwhile, the Bruins entered the playoffs with one of the worst power play offenses. They were especially bad the last month of the season. Yet, Boston was able to find their rhythm against Carolina's penalty kill. The Bruins scored six times on the power play after Game 1, and even scored short handed once.
Meanwhile, the Rangers, who already had one of the best power play units in the league, have turned it up a notch. In their series against the Penguins, the Rangers capitalized on the man-advantage over 35 percent of the time.
In hockey, these tendencies usually go in swings. Right now, they are swinging the wrong way for Carolina. Unless there is a dramatic shift in how their power play and penalty kill units begin to play, it could make for an uphill battle.
This series is likely destined to go at least six, if not seven games. Carolina is the slight favorite but it is anyone's guess who moves on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
