The Carolina Hurricanes finished the regular season atop the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). With a strong regular season complete, Carolina heads to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.<\/p>\n
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Facing the Ottawa Senators in the first round, here is what to expect from the Hurricanes this postseason.<\/p>\n
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Hurricanes offense among NHL’s best\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carolina produced one of the best offensive seasons in franchise history. The Hurricanes scored 291 goals during the regular season, the No. 2 mark in the NHL. For the first time since the franchise’s days as the Hartford Whalers, Carolina had seven players record 20 or more goals.<\/p>\n
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Center Sebastian Aho led the way with 80 points (27 goals, 53 assists). Left winger Nikolaj Ehlers and right winger Andrei Svechnikov also delivered standout seasons, with Ehlers posting a career-high 71 points (26 goals, 45 assists) and Svechnikov finishing with 70 points (31 goals, 39 assists), his best season with Carolina.<\/p>\n
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The Hurricanes’ special teams unit was also effective. Carolina posted a 24.9% power-play percentage, ranking No. 5 in the NHL, while its penalty kill operated at 80.4%, good for No. 11.<\/p>\n
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With this level of offensive production, Carolina should not lack scoring throughout the postseason.<\/p>\n
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Goaltending uncertainty\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the biggest questions for Carolina entering the playoffs is its play in net. The Hurricanes have two options for game one against Ottawa.<\/p>\n
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Veteran goalie Frederik Andersen has served as Carolina’s primary starter in recent seasons, but he posted a career-low year with 16 wins in 35 appearances and an 87.4% save percentage, his lowest since entering the league in 2013.<\/p>\n
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The other option is 27-year-old rookie goalie Brandon Bussi, who recorded 31 wins in 39 appearances. However, his performance dipped over the final two months, including an 89.5% save percentage, which ranked No. 33 in the NHL.<\/p>\n
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Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour will have a difficult decision to make, and it would not be surprising to see both goalies used throughout the first round.<\/p>\n
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Breaking down Ottawa<\/p>\n
Ottawa secured the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Despite entering as a lower seed, the Senators present a competitive matchup for Carolina.<\/p>\n
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The Senators ranked No. 8 in goals scored during the regular season and found their form late, recording 26 wins since the start of the new year.<\/p>\n
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Key contributors include goaltender Linus Ullmark, a veteran with postseason experience; center Tim St\u00fctzle, who led the team offensively; and captain left winger Brady Tkachuk, who remained a driving force despite dealing with injuries.<\/p>\n
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Cup or bust\u00a0<\/p>\n
In recent seasons, Carolina has consistently fallen short of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. This year presents another opportunity to break through.<\/p>\n
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The Hurricanes must approach the postseason with a clear championship goal. After finishing atop the Eastern Conference, the expectation is to carry that level of play into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
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Courtesy of Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n
Sustained offensive production will be critical. Even with questions in the net, Carolina’s scoring has consistently carried the team.<\/p>\n
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Home ice advantage could also play a significant role.Since the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Carolina holds a 31-16 record at home. Finishing No. 1 in the Eastern Conference allows the Hurricanes to maintain home ice through at least the Eastern Conference rounds.<\/p>\n
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Carolina opens its first-round series against the Ottawa Senators on April 18 at 3 p.m. on ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Hurricanes finished the regular season atop the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). With…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[1742,19349,194,29,5176,2217,1239,5,195,285,4,794,25,1174,62733,41438],"class_list":["post-555073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-hurricanes","tag-andrei-svechnikov","tag-brandon-bussi","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-carolinahurricanes","tag-eastern-conference","tag-frederik-andersen","tag-hockey","tag-hurricanes","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-nikolaj-ehlers","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-sebastian-aho","tag-the-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-tim-sttzle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116424416625430527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}