What makes the Washington Capitals difficult to beat for the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2?

What makes the Washington Capitals difficult to beat for the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2?

Before we get to the Hurricanes and the Capitals, how do you explain St. Louis giving that series away? Actually, it reminded me a little of game one, which I kind of felt like they gifted back to Winnipeg. I I thought St. Louis I thought they took their foot off the gas first after the first period, but man, when you got a lead with two minutes to go, yeah, two goal lead with two minutes to go, you probably should win that. Uh, it was always going to be Jim Montgomery verse Connor Hella in the who’s to blame Olympics. And I think, oh god, Montgomery struggled in the past like how to coach defending an like an empty net situation when um the other team has a six on five and just like you pull you pull the goalie early, that’s good. You kind of have that belief. I I think it’s a culmination of this team winning so many games over the regular season that okay, we know we’re not out of it. It’s the danger of getting to a game of seven in a clean slate like that at all. And it’s kind of h I I feel like after the first period, the Jets became the team that we all knew that they could be and they just kind of kept going. And that that comeback like it wasn’t on the score sheet, but it started in the second period when they just had more time in their offensive zone. So kind of a culmination of all that. Oh, there there’s no doubt it started in the second period. And then Hella Buck erased the second period by being way too deep in his net. I mean there was nothing that Rodic Fox was going to do beyond shoot that puck and he just played it like I felt like I was no offense to Pota Kachkov if he’s listening on the way to the airport. I felt like I was watching Pota at that point. I’m like just come out and attack the shot and you you’re so good. You’re so big. He made himself so small. You brought up Sarah Civian. you brought up, it it triggered the memory when Boston had that record season of what 136 points. They they have a 3-1 series lead. Florida scores the extra attacker goal to force overtime and they end up losing that series in seven. Uh the people in Boston going, “Yep, we’ve seen that before.” Yeah. Yeah. And now they’re looking at the draft lottery. So, it’s really like they cannot be ones to to talk right now. But at the same time, yeah, there is a little Jim Montgomery chatter over here. And then Claude Julian was on the bench, too. It’s like the ghost of Bruins past. Um, but at the end of the day, that’s a team that got hot that was not as good as the Jets. And the Jets, it’s just frustrating because I didn’t want them to win that way. Like, you want Connor Hobic to be the heart trophy finalist that he is. And that’s just not how it panned out. So, you just have no idea what’s going to go on in round two. All right. real quick to Dallas, Colorado before we talk about the Canes and the Caps. Uh because you were there when it all began too and uh it is it is all beginning. Uh we’re kind of coming full circle. The uh Mo Rantin was pretty sleepy in that series until the second period of game uh of game six in Colorado and he came alive. Now, they didn’t win that game, but he nearly won it for him with four points in the second period. Now, he decides, you know what? Maybe I’ll do my four-point period in the third period. It was just an insane take over the game from a winger. Yeah, that’s what you get when you It’s kind of like you don’t get these players to be good in the regular season. you get him because he is what he is advertised as a really really good playoff performer and he people were right to criticize him for not being that guy in the first few games and then people can tip their hats at the end like it doesn’t have to be either or the pressure was on because he costs that much money and he’s expected to do that and he gets to pick his poison about where he ends up and I guess that was kind of a I’ll show you to all of us and you just got to tip your hat or throw your hat to that and now they’re going to at Robertson and um Heiskin back this rounds because he did exactly what he had to do as kind of not the depth scoring but as the this team needed one more Killer Instinct guy and the Avalanche could have really used a Killer Instinct. Uh yeah, look, Nathan McKinnon did everything he possibly could. I don’t think it was a great postseason series from Kale Mar, which was a little bit of a surprise. I expected a lot more out of him and even whether it’s production or play uh I expected more uh I thought we got pretty good Martin Nas. Um I know a lot of my timeline Sarah was filled up with uh didn’t have Jack Drury uh taking the costly penalty that led to the power play goal. Uh I thought that was did did you think that was a penalty that had to be called? Yes, I am pretty generous with my penalty giving out when it comes to the postseason, but that was brutal. You can’t do that. You can’t have that happen in that situation. Yeah, I feel bad. I love the kid and he’s trying hard, but maybe like not ready for that bright light moment quite yet. That was a big spot. Yeah, right off the face off and he d was it Sean he dragged down or was Yeah, that was it was too bad. But he goes to the box and it didn’t take uh didn’t take Dallas very long at all. But that is when when they acquired Rantin, Dallas became the betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup. And now and that triggered a Jason Robertson surge. And when you get Heathkinn back and you get Robertson and they haven’t said whether or not they’re going to be back for game one, but they expect them back uh at some point during this series. When they get fully operational when they don’t have to have Cody Cece playing big minutes uh because he’s been playing big minutes, uh they’re going to be pretty good. Yeah, 100%. And I I was a little down on them. I had the abs winning um the series and they I I don’t enjoy watching the Stars sometimes because they don’t have that killer. I didn’t think they had that killer and they proved me wrong in game seven and that kind of changes the momentum for them regardless of if Robertson He’s going to come back and they are. So that’s the team to watch now. Oh there there there there is no question every team’s got to get over the hump. But as we transition to Washington, the year before in 2018, Washington knew that they were going to have to get over Sydney Crosby. They did and they went on to win the Stanley Cup. Uh, and now 2019 all over again. Uh, although maybe in slightly different situations because Washington is the the underdog, the betting underdog in the series. And I I hate that we put all these things in these terms now, but um the Hurricanes are still favored to beat the Capitals. Why do you think that is? Yeah, I was reading um an article about exactly this. And the Hurricanes are like analytics darlings as we know, but because we it’s why the ISF matters. And I know you’re going to love that because it’s about the amount of shots taken and the amount of shots suppressed, which is like the hurricane simple bread and butter, right? And you you saw that absolutely at exponential levels in the first round. And then what they can’t figure out, it’s so funny like the type of player Ovkin is. because he’s so rare that like a lot of these models like their brains get broken when it comes to Oskin because I mean he’s a big hitter but he shoots not necessarily a high volume but in also the basically the same exact spot and it works like I I think the Capitals the reason why this core in the past few years like the shooting percentage when it’s high this is the best team ever because they take their shot selection seriously they don’t always take a million shots but they take really good ones and then when those get in, they get they get kind of hot. And it’s like that one year, Spencer Kur’s first year where they had a negative goal differential and they squeaked into the playoffs and they didn’t play well. It was because they’re true to themselves in the way the Canes are true to themselves. The Canes are going to be shot heavy and they’re going to suppress your shots. The Capitals really take good shots and when they’re going in, they’re one of the best teams in the league. Yeah, they have scored uh they have scored a ton of goals this year and I know it’s easy to say, well, Alex Ovuchkin had this great year because he did have a great goalcoring year. But I think he could have had those goals and Washington could have been a wildcard team. I think the reason Washington is good is because guys like Dylan Stro had career years. Alexi Proish had 30 plus goals and almost all of them if not all of them were at five on five. They got Pierre Luke Dubois had a resurgent year to me. That’s the reason why Washington is good. Yeah. And listen, you we’re saying depth and you haven’t even mentioned Conor Mcichael who has scored some of the biggest round one goals. was one to watch for me just seeing like how I don’t know Tom Wilson and the big dog, they’re also a big aggressive team, you know what I mean? And like they can grind down and then you get the skill from an emerging Conor Mcichael and it’s like they’re coming at you line after line. Yeah. Dylan Stro had a career year and just kind of watching him be I mean obviously like we’re trading first line center for first line center. It’s kind of like in a ho situation where you have all that you can contain somebody on a two-way game and you have a lot of good offense. So, there’s a lot of scary stuff going on there. Yeah, I I look I know how fans are. Uh, everybody’s terrified that Washington’s going to try come in uh or we’re going to go there uh and Washington’s going to try and break physically break Carolina. How do you see this series playing out? God, it’s really one that I have my popcorn out for because I know we were I was there during 2019 I saw and there’s still so many of the reoccurring players. I think Tom Wilson’s got more mature which is horrible for the game. He he said after um one of the games I should just shut up sometimes and I thought that was hilarious. Um and then he came out in the next game with like a a big clean hit. Yep. And a goal to dagger. So, I think uh I it’s so hard to tell with this because it’s kind of they both had the most predictable first round exit opponents, right? Like you you expected both of these teams to win and now here they are trying to both prove in their own ways that they’re actually good and actually deserving of Eastern Conference final glory. So, it should be one of the best games or one of the best series of the second round. But I’m expecting Steph looks like he’s fully healed from his ACL, right? And I think that’s been the hold back for a while, for longer than people probably knew until he’s suddenly fine. So, I’m expecting him I hope he doesn’t get caught up in the drama. I hope everybody sticks to their game. And I know Tom Wilson is going to bring the big guns out. So, yeah. Look, it should be it should be fun. Andre, all year long, I can’t tell you Sarah, you know, I talked to Rod before every game and um I in probably half of our conversations, Andre Fetchnikov has come up in either got to get him going or maybe that’s what gets him going because it’s after a good game and he’s had very few runs where he’s played well for more than really two games in a row. Mhm. But the the the way he played as the Devils series wore on and again it hasn’t been a long run. That series only went five games. But that Andre, you know, you saw it. That Andre can be a gamecher and it gives Carolina the bonafide power forward that they traded for in that Mo Rantinan guy. Yeah, I’ll always believe in that kid. I just think he is just a special person and a special player when he turns it on. But I do think he needs a little bit of like belief from the people around him. And I think it’s been a few tough years with injuries and things like that. But maybe that belief that he got he’s one of those guys that like it really is about things like that. So I think maybe that carries over into the second round. Well, you know, Andre has always had the the the head coach has always been behind him. He loves He loves the the Andre work ethic. He’s He’s never going to worry whether or not Andre is ready to go. He’s always physically ready to go. It’s just does he have his confidence with him, but the confidence will always come from the head coach. Um, and Andre plus the way Aaho is playing right now and you got Jarvis and Blake, they’ve got a chance. But it really is contrast, right? Washington’s going to try and and pound Carolina through the wall and the Hurricanes, not that they won’t be physical because you have to, but they’re going to try and uh skate past them. If they can do that, then I look forward to seeing the FL. Now, you picked Toronto initially. Do you do you like Toronto still or do you or is it going to be Florida? H I think it’s more the Panthers fault than the Leafs fault. But I really after watching that first round series, I think I have to switch it to Panthers just because that last game should terrify anyone because it’s like they beat the Lightning at their own game. like the the Lightning really thrive in those kind of highscoring free-for-alls and they just ended up demolishing them and then it it was like pretty easy too. They were just unfazed. They just come at you. Kachchuck comes back and game one has two goals. Everybody a different hero every night. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing. The depths and John Cooper’s statement that it was our time, now it’s theirs. Like when he says something like that, I’m a little scared. Like the bells are ringing. Yeah. when Cooper said they’re not just good, they are exceptional. Um, we forgot based on the last like month of the season when Kachchuck was healing up from Four Nations and Paul Maurice didn’t even wasn’t even thinking about playing him. We forgot just how good they were. And I picked Tampa to win that series and then I saw the games being played. I’m like, “Oh no. Oh, Florida is much better than Tampa.” Uh, okay. To be fair, look at the injury list from Tampa. You had Headman on broken foot. You got Cooerov with issues. It’s like everybody who needs to be a big player had some type of issue. So, I’ll give them that. All right. Well, you you can I I just Florida’s so so good. Sarah Civy in the Civ report on Substack a top 10. Look, next time it’ll be top five. Oh, let’s hope. Let’s all subscribe, people. All right, Sarah, take care. I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks so much.

Sara Civian, The Civ Report, joins the Adam Gold Show to discuss The Carolina Hurricanes upcoming series against the Washington Capitals. What will be key for the Carolina Hurricanes in this series? How does Sara see the Florida Panthers vs Toronto Maple Leafs series going?

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