Well, it's that time of the year again. When a young man turns
his fancy to thoughts of love and collapsed lungs, to singing
birds and concussions. No, it's not cult hippie horror movie
time. It's time for playoff hockey! And it's been a long time
since the Hurricanes have been in it. Well, the Hurricanes have
only missed it for two years but for the franchise, well, it's
been too long. I lost count after three, but counting was never
my strong suit. I can color outside the lines real well.
Let me begin by saying that the Hurricanes are matched up with
the Boston Bruins, and they didn't really do anything too
important at the end of the regular season. Sure, they clinched a
playoff birth - because Florida lost. But even a bunch of
one-armed rabid midgets could beat the Eurotrash Panthers. Well,
maybe the rabid midgets would just end up biting the Kitties
until they bled, and then biting themselves. But you could do
worse - after all, Tampa Bay played Florida at the season finale.
It was like watching the AHL only without the gritty hard-nosed
developing players, and more like watching a bunch of people at
the "Test your Shot!" machine whiff two times.
REGULAR DAYS: Boy was the end of the season...regular.
Lots of ties and junk. I'd recap em but you probably don't want
to read that sort of thing, and I don't want to write it. I'd
rather be reading fellow hacks' predictions for the playoffs. But
here's a few tidbits about the end of the season.
- Arturs Irbe scored his 6th shutout, a career high, and looked
to improve his falling form.
- Keith Primeau was hurt, sent to a Toronto chiropractor, and
came back as good as new. Yay.
- Sean Hill took a puck to the face on a Ken Klee slap shot which
could take several weeks to repair. Simulate getting hit by a
slap shot by ramming your head into an iron puck at least five
times. Six is too many, that would probably kill you, and four
doesn't hurt quite enough. Five is the magic number. Trust me.
- Paul Maurice said stuff. It didn't look important.
- Sports Illustrated finally began to give the best checking line
in hockey some respect when it called it, well, the best checking
line in hockey. Dineen, Manderville, and Ranheim are the backbone
of the team, and now people catch on.
- The Hurricanes have gotten back Steve Chiasson who has recorded
frequent minutes. He feels confident about playing in the
playoffs (who doesn't?).
- The Canes also called up a bunch of New Haven kids from
emergency recall to play in case of injuries.
PLAYOFF ANALYSIS: Since by the time I get back you'll have
already wanted to read a bunch of stats about a playoff series
which will be completely independent of any past events, here you
go!
Boston vs. Carolina, best of 7 series
Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Quarterfinal
Analysis/Stats:
GOALIES
Regular Season Series: 2-2-1
BOSTON:
Dafoe against Carolina: (2-1-1, 1.47 GAA, one shutout)
CAROLINA:
Irbe/Kidd against Boston (2-2-1, 1.78 GAA, two shutouts)
The wins for the Hurricanes came against both Byron Dafoe and the
backup Rob Tallas. I don't think Burns will take the chance of
putting in Tallas against the Hurricanes, but I'm certain Maurice
has more confidence in his backup, because he can only screw up
so many times. Kidd, who has had some success in his past starts,
may end up getting a game or two in a drawn-out series. The key
will be if Dafoe cools off or if Irbe keeps heating up. Right
now, the two goaltenders look to meet at the middle. EDGE: NONE
FORWARDS
Goals for Carolina in the series: 8
Goals for Boston in the series: 9
BOSTON:
Dimitri Khristich (3G, 4A) against Carolina
CAROLINA:
Martin Gelinas (2G, 1A) against Boston
Boston is a young, inexperienced team when it comes to top-line
players. They have an amazing group of youth but very little
playoff experience compared to the veteran (read: old)
Hurricanes. The one thing that must be constant for the
Hurricanes is for All-star Keith Primeau to have a great series.
He must play like he scored 30 goals this year, and he must get
past the tight checking of Boston. While Boston has two quality
lines, the Hurricanes have three, and so expect to see Boston's
checking line and first defensive pairing on the ice a lot. EDGE:
CAROLINA
DEFENSEMEN
Boston +/- against Carolina: -2
Carolina +/- against Boston: +2
BOSTON:
Ray Bourque (39 PPP)
CAROLINA:
Have we even gotten 39 points on the power play?
Well, the edge here is definitely given to Boston. Don't get me
wrong, the Hurricane defense, when healthy, is definitely
average, even above average. But against a 20-year all-star, 1st
rounder Kyle McLaren, 6'7" Hal Gill, and several other
hard-hitters, the Hurricanes oft-battered defense doesn't stand
up. Look for the Hurricanes to play all their defensemen in a
stay-at-home style to keep Boston's speedy forwards from
capitalizing on breakaways. EDGE: BOSTON
INTANGIBLES
Boston years w/o the playoffs: 2
Carolina years w/o the playoffs: There's playoffs?
There's really no way to rate these. You see 'em one way or
another. But the Hurricanes have the edge in my mind. They're a
veteran team full of guys who want to be back in the excitement
of the playoffs on a sub-par franchise. Boston's a young team
that will have many playoffs in their future and are looking
mainly to give their guys a taste of what is to come. EDGE:
CAROLINA:
COACHING
Um, who needs an explanation. The Hurricanes coach has 0 games
playoff experience, but he watches a lot of TV. The Boston coach
is Pat Burns. EDGE: BOSTON
Final Prediction: Carolina in 7.
Simply put, Boston has a quality goaltender, great special teams,
a superior defense, and a varied offense. Carolina has an
All-star goaltender, a solid backup, a phenomenal five-on-five
offense, an All-star center, and more experience. I'll go with
experience in this one, and the only thing that will keep the
evil ones (oh, that slipped) in will be Byron Dafoe and their
first defensive pairing of Bourque and Gill. What will be the
kickers for the Hurricanes is having 4 lines that can score,
Irbe's upset potential, having a reliable backup, and making the
power play work (well, once or twice).
