Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins: Stanley Cup playoff series preview and pick

Carolina Hurricanes: 1^st Metropolitan Division, 116 points

Boston Bruins: Wild Card #1, 107 points

Schedule (ET)

Monday, May 2, 7 p.m.: Boston at Carolina (ESPN, SN360, TVA Sports)
Wednesday, May 4, 7 p.m.: Boston at Carolina (ESPN, SN360, TVA Sports)
Friday, May 6, 7 p.m.: Carolina at Boston (TNT, SN360, TVA Sports)
Sunday, May 8, 12:30 p.m.: Carolina at Boston (ESPN, Sportsnet, TVA Sports)
*Tuesday, May 10, TBD: Boston at Carolina (TBD)
*Thursday, May 12, TBD: Carolina at Boston (TBD)
*Saturday, May 14, TBD: Boston at Carolina (TBD)

The Skinny

Twice in the last three years the Bruins have ended Carolina’s playoff hopes, so there is a certain payback narrative that exists for a Hurricanes team that won back-to-back division titles for the first time in franchise history. This is the fourth straight playoff appearance for the Hurricanes under head coach (and defending Jack Adams Award winner) Rod Brind’Amour, also a franchise first. The Bruins, meanwhile, are trying to defy Father Time and take advantage of future Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron and maybe Hall of Famer Brad Marchand before time runs out on this core. The fact Bergeron, 36 and in the final year of his current deal, hasn’t discussed his future plans adds some more urgency and emotion to this playoff year for the Bruins.

Head to Head

Carolina 3-0-0

Boston 0-3-0

Yeah, the regular season doesn’t mean anything, except it kind of does, especially when you outscore the opponent 16-1 as Carolina did to Boston this season. It doesn’t saw off the previous playoff series losses in 2019 and 2020 but it should give the Hurricanes at least a bit of swagger heading into Game 1 at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Monday night.

Top Five Scorers

Carolina

Sebastian Aho: 81 points

Andrei Svechnikov: 69 points

Teuvo Teravainen: 65 points

Tony DeAngelo: 51 points

Vincent Trocheck: 51 points

Boston

Brad Marchand: 80 points

David Pastrnak: 77 points

Patrice Bergeron: 65 points

Taylor Hall: 61 points

Charlie McAvoy: 56 points

X-Factor

A couple things come to mind vis a vis special teams and how they could impact this series. First, Boston’s power play has sucked mightily down the stretch and in fact it was 29th in the league since the trade deadline, although a week ago it sat 31^st, a reflection of the return of David Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm from injury. But the Hurricanes boast the NHL’s top penalty kill and there has been little wobble in that group from start to finish. Carolina, however, has battled itself all year when it comes to penalties, and for a team that has the puck as often as the Canes do, they own the 31st-ranked penalty differential in the league at minus-46. That’s mindboggling, but this is a team that ranks 26^th in the league in minor penalties taken, and it’s not like they’ve addressed the problem, as they were tied for 27^th since the trade deadline. Interesting note: Boston leads the league in minor penalties taken since the trade deadline in late March. Carolina’s power play, in the top 10 for most of the season, ranks 23^rd since the deadline. So this series may turn on which of these two undisciplined teams can stay out of the box and which of these teams can get its power play going and win the special teams battle.

Offense

We can’t just look at the numbers when it comes to offense for the Bruins, who were middle of the pack in goals per game after the trade deadline but were without Pastrnak for part of that time and, well, he’s really good. Pastrnak has been playing with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula and the trio have been excellent. That has allowed head coach Bruce Cassidy to keep Jake DeBrusk (remember when everyone including DeBrusk was in a hurry to find him a new home?) with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Now, how long does that last in the post-season? We’ll see. The Canes, on the other hand, have been pretty consistent all year. Yes, they have high end skill, with Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen combining for 89 goals but it’s all about the collective in Carolina, which boasted five players with 20 or more goals and two more, rookie Seth Jarvis and captain Jordan Staal, at 17.

Defense

Both teams are well-coached and give up very little. The Hurricanes allowed the fewest goals of any team in the NHL season-long, and since the trade deadline Carolina was third in the league in goals allowed while Boston was fourth. The addition of Lindholm by the Bruins at the deadline was critical to taking some of the pressure off McAvoy, whom we had a No. 1 on our Norris Trophy ballot a year ago and has taken his game to an elite level in the past couple of seasons.

Goaltending

The Carolina Hurricanes won the William Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the league. And yet the two principal goaltenders, Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, were both injured down the stretch and now it’s there’s an outside chance unheralded rookie Pyotr Kochetkov will get the Game 1 start for the Hurricanes or a look at some point in the series. How crazy is that? But the 22-year-old lit it up in the Kontinental Hockey League, lit it up in the American Hockey League and is now 3-0 as a Hurricane. Raanta, who has never started an NHL playoff game, will back up if Kochetkov gets the start and was excellent through the last half of the season. The Bruins will also be going with a playoff newbie (Linus Ullmark has never appeared in an NHL playoff game and Jeremy Swayman played 18:34 last year in a relief role) and there has been ongoing debate as to whether Cassidy will go with Swayman or Ullmark. Both have had long stretches of impressive play, though we’d give the nod to Ullmark, who has been outstanding after returning from an injury sustained in early April. Given the dynamics, it won’t be at all surprising to see either or both coaches making goaltending moves in-series.

Injuries

Both teams as we’ve noted got healthy in recent days with Raanta and Jesperi Kotkaniemi returning to action and Lindholm and Pastrnak back in Boston. Andersen had not returned to the ice in rehabbing his knee injury, so it’s hard to imagine he factors into the first round.

Intangibles

We have made the point that many teams have to slay their own personal demon team before they can get to the top. Washington somehow needed to beat Pittsburgh before winning their first Cup in 2018. The Bolts were swept by Columbus in 2019 and then beat the Blue Jackets en route to their first of two straight Cups in 2020. Is Boston that team for the Hurricanes? Or is the prospect that this could be it for Bergeron (say it ain’t so, Patrice) enough to propel the Bruins forward in search of one more shot at glory?

CONSENSUS SERIES PREDICTION

Carolina’s balanced attack will be too much for the Bruins to contain. Hurricanes in 7.

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