In what should be a close series, the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs will feature an Eastern Conference Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins.
The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs have come down to its final four (or at least it will after Wednesday’s Game 7 between the Sharks and Avalanche). In the Eastern Conference, the last remaining teams are the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. They’ll begin their Eastern Conference Final on Thursday, May 8.
Let’s start with the obvious – no one expected these two teams would be the last ones standing in the East. The Bruins overcame the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue Jackets while the Canes overcame the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders.
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This series has two teams who rely a lot on their best players. Boston has an amazing top-line trio of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, and Patrice Bergeron. Few can match them and anyone who faces them usually gets shut down.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, and Nino Niederreiter. With this trio on the ice, the Canes control two-thirds of the shot attempts, over 70% of the unblocked shot attempts, and 75% of the expected goal share.
Carolina comes into this series as the underdogs. The Vegas odds are currently favoring Boston. However, the Canes are very comfortable in an underdog role, as these bunch of jerks thrive when people underestimate them.
It’s odd talking about a bunch of jerks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and not be talking about Don Cherry, Mike Milbury, or the chowder eating folks in Boston. But the Canes are a legitimate threat to Bruins. Meanwhile, Boston will present a very difficult challenge for Carolina, even though the latter is finally getting healthy.
Can the Hurricanes continue their magical run? Or will the Bruins go to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time this decade?