It’s quite clear that the Carolina Hurricanes don’t have the advantage in net ahead of their qualifying round series against the New York Rangers. While that much has been established, Carolina may at least be able to control just how big of a disadvantage it is. To do this, the Hurricanes need to take a hard look at which goalie gives them the best odds against the Rangers: Petr Mrazek or James Reimer.
While Mrazek is still considered Carolina’s starter, he struggled throughout the season and Reimer was getting into quite a bit of action, almost splitting games with Mrazek at some points. Reimer was better this season, holding a relatively strong .914 save percentage in 25 games, compared to Mrazek’s .905 save percentage in 40 games. However, both goalies have historically performed very poorly against New York, with Mrazek holding an .886 save percentage in seven games, while Reimer holds a .893 save percentage in 12 games.
Part of my reasoning as to why I think it’s at least worth considering starting Reimer is that, as I’ve said before, he’s more consistent from game to game than Mrazek is. Reimer may go through long stretches where he’s unreliable, but his problem is how inconsistent he is from season to season. With Mrazek, you never know what goalie you’re going to get. At his best, Mrazek can truly hold his own against any goalie in the league. But while he can steal the show one night, sometimes he’ll turn around and allow multiple weak goals in the very next game. He also had an .894 save percentage in 11 games during Carolina's playoff run last year and especially in a shortened series, the Hurricanes can’t afford weaker goaltending than they got in the regular season.
Let me just say that I don’t think there’s much of a chance that the Hurricanes will start the series with James Reimer in net. Mrazek is the team’s starter and they’re going to give him a chance before they’d resort to Reimer and honestly, that could be the right move as well. That said, just because that’s the likely scenario doesn’t mean it’s the best one and I don't think the Hurricanes' situation in net shouldn't be as clear-cut as Mrazek heading into the series as the undisputed starter.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Who do you believe is a better option to start the series for the Hurricanes?
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