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Series Talk: Qualifying Round: Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers

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Kakko Schmakko said:
there is actually no extra round if I understand correctly, still 4 rounds.
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Isn't that kind of just a technicality, though? Like they're considering the play-in round and seeding round (for the top four in each Conference) "not the playoffs" even though at least for the play-in, it obviously is. But after those two concurrent rounds, they'll still have two conferences with eight teams and do some variation of their normal 1-v-8, 2-v-7, etc., through the equivalent of the divisional, semis, conference finals, and Cup. Or am I wrong about that?
 
nyr2k2 said:
Isn't that kind of just a technicality, though? Like they're considering the play-in round and seeding round (for the top four in each Conference) "not the playoffs" even though at least for the play-in, it obviously is. But after those two concurrent rounds, they'll still have two conferences with eight teams and do some variation of their normal 1-v-8, 2-v-7, etc., through the equivalent of the divisional, semis, conference finals, and Cup. Or am I wrong about that?
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Correct. The only thing I'm not sure about is if they've decided how they're going to see the quarterfinals yet.
 
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bobbop said:
Their goaltending is definitely a weakness but I’m not all that impressed with their defense either. I’ve always felt Slavin is overrated, Hamilton is more of an offensive defenseman and Skeji is a turnstile. Not bad, but not great. I do like their depth up front and their ability to maintain a forecheck. The Rangers defense will need to defense against the forecheck and get pucks out of their quickly.
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I like Slavin a lot. He's not really Norris Trophy material but he's kind of in the range of McDonagh quality defenseman. Hamilton is very good offensively. I've seen him let down in the playoffs before though. OTOH you can depend on him for a couple/three shots on goal just about every game. Pesce is really really good but might not be available. Those are their big 3.

They have very good depth after that. Sami Vatanen, Jake Gardiner, Brady Skjei, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Joel Edmundson and Cale Fleury. The only two who could arguably be called defensive stalwarts are Slavin and Pesce. If Pesce isn't playing that puts a lot more pressure on Slavin. Skjei can be a hand grenade waiting to happen but IMO Gardiner and Vatanen even more so. Van Riemsdyk and Edmundson are pretty much bottom 6 stay at home types. The protection they give to either of Reimer or Mrazek is going to be key for them. If Panarin and Zibanejad are up to speed and are coming at them on separate lines and their goalies are their usual average they're in a lot of trouble. I don't think Carolina is going to be running and gunning. Their forwards are going to have to help out and they're going to have to stay away from penalty kill situations.

Average goaltending in the playoffs usually doesn't win. I like our chances against them. If Shesterkin, Panarin and Zibanejad play the way they're capable Carolina is in big troubles. Even so ifs are still ifs.
 
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eco's bones said:
I like Slavin a lot. He's not really Norris Trophy material but he's kind of in the range of McDonagh quality defenseman. Hamilton is very good offensively. I've seen him let down in the playoffs before though. OTOH you can depend on him for a couple/three shots on goal just about every game. Pesce is really really good but might not be available. Those are their big 3.

They have very good depth after that. Sami Vatanen, Jake Gardiner, Brady Skjei, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Joel Edmundson and Cale Fleury. The only two who could arguably be called defensive stalwarts are Slavin and Pesce. If Pesce isn't playing that puts a lot more pressure on Slavin. Skjei can be a hand grenade waiting to happen but IMO Gardiner and Vatanen even more so. Van Riemsdyk and Edmundson are pretty much bottom 6 stay at home types. The protection they give to either of Reimer or Mrazek is going to be key for them. If Panarin and Zibanejad are up to speed and are coming at them on separate lines and their goalies are their usual average they're in a lot of trouble. I don't think Carolina is going to be running and gunning. Their forwards are going to have to help out and they're going to have to stay away from penalty kill situations.

Average goaltending in the playoffs usually doesn't win. I like our chances against them. If Shesterkin, Panarin and Zibanejad play the way they're capable Carolina is in big troubles. Even so ifs are still ifs.
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If Carolina can utilize their "home ice" advantage to get Aho and Svechnikov out against our bottom-6 as much as possible we should be in trouble. I'm not sure how feasible it is to try to focus on shutting down our top-6, I'd just try to play them hard and wear them down physically while taking a few GA in the process and then focus on piling up goals against our bottom-6.

Carolina hasn't been able to utilize their superior depth against us so far this season though.

We also need to be disciplined and not take penalties. Carolina's PP is just as good as ours and their PK is one of the best in the league while ours is one of the worst so chippy hockey with lots of penalties will be to their advantage, though they took a lot more penalties than they drew in the regular season.
 
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Some rumored dates. Camps at hub cities (with 2 exhibition games mixed in) start Friday July 10. Playoffs/Play in round to start August 1st. Stanley cup final in october.
 
Blue Blooded said:
If Carolina can utilize their "home ice" advantage to get Aho and Svechnikov out against our bottom-6 as much as possible we should be in trouble. I'm not sure how feasible it is to try to focus on shutting down our top-6, I'd just try to play them hard and wear them down physically while taking a few GA in the process and then focus on piling up goals against our bottom-6.

Carolina hasn't been able to utilize their superior depth against us so far this season though.

We also need to be disciplined and not take penalties. Carolina's PP is just as good as ours and their PK is one of the best in the league while ours is one of the worst so chippy hockey with lots of penalties will be to their advantage, though they took a lot more penalties than they drew in the regular season.
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If Pesce is not playing or not close to 100% I like Shesterkin's chances against Aho and Svechnikov a whole lot more than Mrazek or Reimer's chances against Panarin or Zibanejad. Rangers D is kind of our weak spot though and we don't have any NHL experience past our first depth D Libor Hajek. That could become a major issue if two of our D get hurt. As for the bottom 6 the weakest links that can be exploited right now are probably Kakko and Gauthier. Guys like McKegg and DiGiuseppe are seasoned pros who aren't going to put up a lot of points but are defensively responsible. Howden and Lemieux are kind of ?able sometimes. I think Chytil's to the point where he can hold his own all over the ice.
 
eco's bones said:
If Pesce is not playing or not close to 100% I like Shesterkin's chances against Aho and Svechnikov a whole lot more than Mrazek or Reimer's chances against Panarin or Zibanejad. Rangers D is kind of our weak spot though and we don't have any NHL experience past our first depth D Libor Hajek. That could become a major issue if two of our D get hurt. As for the bottom 6 the weakest links that can be exploited right now are probably Kakko and Gauthier. Guys like McKegg and DiGiuseppe are seasoned pros who aren't going to put up a lot of points but are defensively responsible. Howden and Lemieux are kind of ?able sometimes. I think Chytil's to the point where he can hold his own all over the ice.
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Sure in a pure goaltending sense, but only Detroit had a worse bottom-6 than us this season. While it is impossible to specifically discern from the WOWY, but if we assume no Mika/Zib 5v5 overlap Shesty had a 34-11 5v5 goal differential with our top-6 (1.85 GA/60, 94.3 Sv%) and a 3-12 5v5 differential with our bottom-6 (3.45 GA/60, 91.5 Sv%). Aho/Svech are going to get an absurd amount of chances when going up against our bottom-6 that even if Shesty plays well they are going likely to put up a lot of goals.

I think it was @Irishguy42 who said the solution is to just play 93+23 for 30 minutes (outscored the opposition 12-4) and 10+77 for the other 30 (20-6). Easy cup win right there.
 
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Blue Blooded said:
Sure in a pure goaltending sense, but only Detroit had a worse bottom-6 than us this season. While it is impossible to specifically discern from the WOWY, but if we assume no Mika/Zib 5v5 overlap Shesty had a 34-11 5v5 goal differential with our top-6 (1.85 GA/60, 94.3 Sv%) and a 3-12 5v5 differential with our bottom-6 (3.45 GA/60, 91.5 Sv%). Aho/Svech are going to get an absurd amount of chances when going up against our bottom-6 that even if Shesty plays well they are going likely to put up a lot of goals.

I think it was @Irishguy42 who said the solution is to just play 93+23 for 30 minutes (outscored the opposition 12-4) and 10+77 for the other 30 (20-6). Easy cup win right there.
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.......and yet they had issues winning against us all season long.......again. It's a new season and they certainly are a good and capable team outside their very average goaltending. They're also a team that tends to roll lines which is a testament to their overall depth but the other side of that is the likes of Aho, Teravainen and Svechnikov are probably not going to get outrageous amounts of ice time. They'll get somewhat more for sure but they're not all going to be on the ice every other shift.

They could win for sure but they're going to have to figure out how to stop Zibanejad and Panarin and either one or both of them are in beast mode that's a really tall order especially if your goaltending is a little substandard.
 
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eco's bones said:
.......and yet they had issues winning against us all season long.......again. It's a new season and they certainly are a good and capable team outside their very average goaltending. They're also a team that tends to roll lines which is a testament to their overall depth but the other side of that is the likes of Aho, Teravainen and Svechnikov are probably not going to get outrageous amounts of ice time. They'll get somewhat more for sure but they're not all going to be on the ice every other shift.

They could win for sure but they're going to have to figure out how to stop Zibanejad and Panarin and either one or both of them are in beast mode that's a really tall order especially if your goaltending is a little substandard.
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Oh, I consider us favorites in the series with regard to recent history and the fact that they seem absolutely rattled by the prospect of playing us. But that doesn't mean there aren't significant matchup issues that they should be able to exploit (which they obviously haven't been able to so far).
 
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TominNC said:
I'd include those stats and the round robin stats in with the regular season. Get everyone closer to a full season
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The regular season is over. They've already handed out the non-voting awards.

The round-robin/play-in stats will be separate
 
The neutral site/no fans thing is going to be great for us because, let's be real, coming into Madison Square Garden is a kindergarten field trip.
 
Blue Blooded said:
Oh, I consider us favorites in the series with regard to recent history and the fact that they seem absolutely rattled by the prospect of playing us. But that doesn't mean there aren't significant matchup issues that they should be able to exploit (which they obviously haven't been able to so far).
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Nothing will be a cakewalk and there are no guarantees. That said I don't think Carolina is a disfavorable matchup for us at least compared to some other teams. And these will be important games for players who haven't experienced this before and winning the series would be a big deal for our younger players---whether we went on to win other series or not.

The Rangers have a quick strike offense and it's like we always have very good to outstanding goaltending. One of the things that might help balance out our bottom 6 if it becomes a big problem is dropping Jesper Fast off the Panarin/Strome line. He's never been a big point producer but he's a heads up smart player, a good forechecker and plays very well away from the puck.

To me it will be important for Carolina to play a disciplined penalty free tight checking low scoring game. I think their forward group can be very good at that but their defense corps not so much. If that is their plan it will be very very important for them to score first every game.
 
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