Three Takeaways: Hurricanes Prove They’re The Real Deal In Game One Win over Bruins
The Carolina Hurricanes got things done in game one. While the Boston Bruins were not the higher seed in this series, I do not think anyone expected a result like what we saw on Monday night.
The Hurricanes and Bruins have met twice before in recent years and both times the Bruins got the better of the Hurricanes. Last night things looked like they were starting to change. Carolina outlasted the Bruins and won this one.
Nino Niederreiter scored two goals on the night, including one that gave the team a two-goal lead in the second period. Here is what he said after the game:
“I think the longer the game went on, the better we got going.”
No one can disagree with that. The Hurricanes got more and more confident the longer the game went on.
No let’s jump in with some takeaways from this one.
1. Hurricanes silence the critics after game one.
I think one of the more widespread picks for people’s brackets this postseason was to pick Boston over the Canes. Well that upset just got a little harder to complete with the Canes dominating game one the way they did against the Bruins.
This Hurricanes team is going to be good for a long time. As elite teams like Tampa Bay begin to take a step back, the East is going to turn into the Hurricanes’ territory considering how good and young their team is.
The team that wins the first game of a best of seven series has won the series 68.8 percent of the time as said on ESPN’s The Point last night. For the Canes, their job is not done yet but at least they can go into game two confident.
One player who definitely should be confident now has to be the netminder Antti Raanta.
2. Antti Raanta shines against a good Bruins team.
Antti Raanta stopped 35 shots on the night posting up a .972 save percentage in this one. I don’t know if you can ask for a better effort from your goalie.
Raanta, who was one of those goalies with a question mark over his head going into this postseason, helped put the critics at bay after a great game. Things obviously are not done yet.
In order for the Canes to keep their playoff success going, they need to keep playing well away from the puck. Clogging up the neutral zone and trying to limit chances from the dangerous Bruins is the only way the Hurricanes are going to win this one.
3. The Hurricanes love playoff hockey.
The hits were heavy, the shots felt more meaningful, and every shift had that much more weight to it. Playoff hockey truly is fun and last night’s game exemplified it. Every goal felt like a make-or-break moment for the two teams and the best team won at the end of the game.
The crowd last night in Raleigh was electric. PNC Arena definitely does playoff hockey right, and if they win game two we might not see them again till round two.
Both teams definitely have some areas to improve on. Neither team scored on the power play despite each getting three chances. For Boston that could have changed the game if they had gotten a goal at the right time.
Also for the Canes, they need to work on limiting their turnovers. Carolina had 20 turnovers on the night, which might not mean much considering they won at the end of the game, but moving into the rest of the series limiting turnovers needs to be a priority.
The next matchup is on Wednesday between these two teams. It will be interesting to see how the Bruins answer after a big loss in game one.