Hurricanes beating Devils like a bad team in November. This doesn’t happen in the playoffs
No one knows how this series will end, and some very strange things have happened between these teams during the many postseasons they’ve collided, but it’s hard to imagine this series starting any better for the Carolina Hurricanes.
A player can go an entire career, a fan can go an entire lifetime, without a night like Friday night, when a desperate start, successfully defusing an early two-man disadvantage, turned into a raucous, sing-a-long finish. This just doesn’t happen in the playoffs very often, and certainly not two games in a row.
The Hurricanes had to scrap for every single inch of ice against the New York Islanders and now they’re slashing through the New Jersey Devils like … well, like they’ve done to the Devils quite a bit since 2001, to be sure, but the way a good team beats a bad team in November, in every phase of the game.
Friday’s 6-1 win represented the most goals that the Hurricanes have scored in the playoffs since Game 1 against the Devils in 2006. They got Martin Brodeur pulled in that 6-0 win; Akira Schmid was pulled Friday for the second straight game.
Seventeen years later, Game 2 in 2023 had everything: A 6-1 win that probably should have been 7-1, the wave, a game so good from Jesperi Kotkaniemi that Montreal cried real tears, a game so good from Frederik Andersen that Toronto cried real tears, and the single most physical shift of the entire postseason to set the tone.
It might actually have been the most physical shift of the entire season: Jesper Fast plowed Ryan Graves into the end boards before Kotkaniemi caught Nico Hischier with his head down second later and caught him flush.
“I saw ‘Quicky’ bury that guy below the net,” Kotkaniemi said. “I got a little excited there.”
If you’re not as physical as the Carolina Hurricanes, and you’re not as fast, and you don’t win as many puck battles, and you can’t score on a two-man advantage, and you’re not as deep … you’re going to lose the first two games of a playoff series by a combined 11-2 the way the New Jersey Devils have.
Especially if Kotkaniemi, Fast and Jordan Martinook are going to combine for three goals. That line was unspeakably dominant, with an 18-7 advantage in shot attempts and the production to meet the “we need results” mandate Rod Brind’Amour laid down last week. Martinook has been a Tasmanian (small-d) devil since Game 6 of the Islanders series, and he finally got rewarded for his effort with a breakaway goal Friday.
When the Hurricanes can roll all four lines playing five-on-five, as they did in the third period and overtime of the clinching game against the Islanders and have for long stretches against the Devils, they can wear anybody down, even without Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty and Teuvo Teravainen.
It’s less about talent than identity. If the Hurricanes are on their game like this, they’re maybe even better off with Drury (who was outstanding) than Hughes (who was not) in the Jack department.
“Right now, five-on-five, they are the better team,” said Devils coach Lindy Ruff, who has now lost five straight playoff games at PNC, albeit over a 17-year span.
The power play is where they really miss those guys, but the Hurricanes have made it work so far. The second unit did the honors Friday, Kotkaniemi ripping a shot from the right circle so hard it hit Schmid in the ribs and still went in.
If Kotkaniemi keeps playing like this, we’re going to lose the YUL-RDU direct flight without the business that has sustained it: Montreal writers coming down to feverishly ask Brind’Amour about Kotkaniemi every time he goes four games without a point.
As for Andersen, that’s three stellar performances in a row — “Sneaky big saves,” Jordan Staal said — and he’s doing everything he can to absolve himself of any blame for the Maple Leafs’ past postseason failures. (The Maple Leafs, after losing both home games to open their series against the Florida Panthers, are doing their part to prove that point as well.)
Raanta was out sick Friday, but the Hurricanes still have two goalies to choose from, maybe even three, which is three more than the Devils. Schmid has yet to finish a game in this series and Vitek Vanacek hasn’t exactly looked sharp in his relief stints. The 50-year-old Brodeur may still be the best option.
Things may very well change on the road Sunday, as so often happens, but in this pit of hell for the Devils — they’re 3-11 in this building in the playoffs, all time — it’s hard to imagine things going any better for the Hurricanes. This just doesn’t happen, not two nights in a row, not against a team this good.
The Hurricanes once again put their stamp on the Devils on Friday. And maybe, already, this series.
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This story was originally published May 6, 2023 at 12:33 AM with the headline "Hurricanes beating Devils like a bad team in November. This doesn’t happen in the playoffs."
