I’ve done quite a few articles looking at Carolina’s upcoming qualifying round series against the New York Rangers and this piece will follow the same pattern.
One of the areas the Hurricanes struggled against the Rangers this season was with special teams. In their four meetings this season, the Rangers got outshot badly in three of the games but often capitalized on the rush, but perhaps more importantly, they also capitalized on the power play. The Rangers scored on five of their 15 opportunities, while the Hurricanes were only able to score twice on 16 chances against the Rangers. It was a little strange to see, due to the fact that although both teams have a strong power play, the Hurricanes had the second-ranked penalty kill in the league this season. I looked back to find out what happened and here's my brief summary of where the goals came from (or didn't come from, in Carolina's case):
On the power play against Carolina, the Rangers did a good job getting traffic in front for deflections and the Hurricanes’ defense didn’t pick them up. Carolina’s forwards did well pressuring the point, but the Hurricanes need better net-front coverage. Pretty much every power play goal New York scored against Carolina came within 10 feet of the net, whether it was a one-timer, deflection, etc. The Rangers did a good job getting their forwards to creep in towards the net, looking for a tap-in or finding open space for a clear shot.
For the Hurricanes, in the few times they did beat Henrik Lundqvist, it was mainly off deflections. On the power play, however, the Hurricanes were getting chances on one-timers but Lundqvist was able to track and react well pretty much every time. Knowing this, it may make more sense for the Hurricanes to fire the puck from the point with traffic in front and look for a deflection.
Simply put, special teams were an issue against the Rangers this year and it’s something the Hurricanes will have to figure out ahead of their qualifying round series. Carolina may have controlled the play through the most of their games against New York this year, but if special teams continue operating in the same fashion against the Rangers, it may not matter.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Hurricanes Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Canes for updates on articles, Hurricanes news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think special teams will be an issue for the Hurricanes in their series against New York?
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»