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Hurricanes’ Special Teams Stumble and Lead to Game 1 Loss

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Zach Martin | Last updated 5/6/24

The second round of the 2024 NHL Playoffs started on Sunday afternoon (May 5) between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers. The Metro Division’s two top teams squared off to see who would move onto the Eastern Conference Final. Coming into the series on paper, there were no differences between the two teams. Top three on special teams for both squads, both could score at a high rate along with talent up and down the roster. One of the main storylines was going to be the special teams. Whoever controlled them in this series might have a slight edge to win it all. In Game 1, it was the special teams that grabbed the top storyline and what resulted was the Rangers winning 4-3 to kick off Round 2.

First Period Killers

The first period was a wild one as there were four goals in the period. The Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad made his presence felt by tallying three points (a goal and two assists) as he opened the scoring under three minutes into the game. However, it did not take long for the Hurricanes to tie it up thanks to Lady Byng Finalist Jaccob Slavin just a minute after the Zibanejad marker. It was Slavin’s first goal of the playoffs as it went off a Rangers stick and past netminder Igor Shesterkin.

After the Slavin goal, the special teams for the Hurricanes seemed to implode. The special teams were what Carolina had on lock coming into the playoffs with the NHL’s second-best powerplay (26.9%) and the league-leading penalty kill (86.4%). However, it was early special team woes, mainly the penalty kill, that put Carolina in a hole in the first period. Zibanejad regained the Rangers’ lead just a tad over halfway into the period and then Vincent Trocheck made it a three-goal game six minutes later. What did not help the Hurricanes is that both first-period powerplay goals were scored within 15 seconds of each opportunity. Giving up two goals that quickly on the penalty kill sank the Hurricanes’ special teams for the game overall.

After the game, head coach Rod Brind’amour was asked about the powerplay goals from the Rangers stating, “A couple of kills we didn’t quite execute right and they did. They made their three quick passes, hit it, and we were just a step off. That’s the difference.” It did make the difference as the Rangers went 2-for-2 in the game. The Hurricanes’ penalty kill going zero percent in Game 1 was not ideal. Even more so, when asked about it, captain Jordan Staal said, “We’ve always talked about it all year long – special teams, if you win that battle, you have a really good chance of winning. Both (the power play and the penalty kill) weren’t good enough.” Staal referenced the powerplay that did not do well in the game either.

The Hurricanes’ powerplay went 0-for-5 in the game on Sunday. That is right. Carolina had more powerplay opportunities than the Rangers. It was not common during the regular season for the Hurricanes to get more man-advantage chances than the team they played against. Unfortunately, they could not capitalize, only having three total shots on goal during two of those combined chances. It was a hole that they fought all game to get out of.

Clawing Back

However, the Hurricanes managed to close the gap a couple of times in the game. The third period saw two goals from Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis. Necas scored his goal under three minutes into the final frame after a spectacular set of passes from Dmitry Orlov and Jordan Martinook to spring him on a breakaway. Necas scored on Shesterkin to make it a one-goal game (3-2) at the time. The Rangers got their two-goal lead back under six minutes later by Artemi Panarin on a shot that got through Frederik Andersen, who did not have a bad game overall.

Jarvis’ goal was a greasy one in front of the net in a classic fire drill battle. He was able to get the puck on his stick and into the net to make it a 4-3 game. That was his fourth goal of the playoffs which leads the Hurricanes after six games. It came with 1:45 left in the game. However, it was too little too late as the Rangers held on to win 4-3 and take a 1-0 series lead.

After the game, Tony DeAngelo was asked about the game and how to move on to Game 2 on Tuesday stating, “I thought we played good (in the second and the third). Even in the first, shots were 4-4 at one point. You guys are going to hear the same thing from all of us. It’s a seven-game series. We’ve got to get to our game earlier. We spotted them one. It was a great play by their guys. But if you give them one quick there, they get in the crowd into it. Then we responded, then the penalty was killed, then boom, boom. It’s kind of just the way it goes in the playoffs. They’ve got a good team but we know what we’ve got in here and we’ve got six more games.”

Game 1 is definitely one that Brind’Amour and the team need to see what went wrong, fix it, move on, and get ready for Game 2. Carolina has to hope to have a better start and have the special teams show up like it has all season along with Round 1. If they can do that, they have a chance to split the first two games before returning to Raleigh for Game 3 on Thursday, May 9.

Game 2 on Tuesday

Game 2 is on Tuesday, May 7 at Madison Square Garden. As of right now, the time is still TBA but it will be on ESPN and Sportsnet in Canada. Hopefully, the Hurricanes can use Game 1 as fuel to come out and play their game on Tuesday. Early on, it felt like they played Rangers hockey and chased. If they revert back to the game that has gotten them to where they are now, there is a chance we see a split series coming back to North Carolina on Thursday.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

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