Gold: Canes-Canadiens preview as Carolina heads into final stretch
Posted March 31, 2022 10:51 a.m. EDT
The Carolina Hurricanes open up a quickie, 2-game home stand tonight against the Montreal Canadiens before the Minnesota Wild come to town to give those not interested in the Duke-Carolina Final Four matchup something to do. The Canes finished a 3-game road swing 2-0-1 after Tuesday’s overtime loss at Tampa Bay and closed out a stretch of 11 games against almost entirely playoff competition with a 6-3-3 record.
Considering how the Hurricanes played in some of the losses, it’s hard to be disappointed in 13 points in the last 11 games.
Let’s put that further into context, especially for those worried that the Hurricanes “wilted” under the pressure of playing against the best the NHL has to offer. Among Eastern Conference clubs, Carolina has the best record against other playoff teams. The Canes are 24-8-6 against the other 7 teams in the East that will be in the playoffs and the 10 teams in the west that are either locks or in a battle entering the final month of the season.
That’s a .711 points percentage. Toronto is next best at 20-10-3 (.652), followed by Florida’s 20-10-6 (.639). Has Carolina struggled against the Panthers and Capitals this year, winning just once in 7 tries? Yes. But, as a whole, the Canes have excelled against the best in the league. Here’s the breakdown.
East vs East (games remaining against conference playoff teams)
Rangers 13-5-3 (5)
Panthers 11-4-3 (4)
Hurricanes 10-6-5 (2)
Penguins 9-7-3 (4)
Maple Leafs 9-5-1 (7)
Lightning 7-9-3 (5)
Capitals 7-8-2 (6)
Bruins 5-8-2 (7)
East vs West* (games remaining against potential field)
Hurricanes 14-2-1 (5)
Maple Leafs 11-5-2 (9)
Bruins 10-6-2 (9)
Lightning 9-5-3 (8)
Panthers 9-6-3 (6)
Capitals 8-6-3 (9)
Penguins 6-6-3 (9)
Rangers 6-10-3 (6)
(*There are several teams fighting for the last few spots in the west, so I’ve extended the pool to include Dallas, and Winnipeg, who are just a point or two out of a Wild Card spot.)
Overall vs the playoff field
Hurricanes 24-8-6
Panthers 20-10-6
Maple Leafs 20-10-3
Rangers 19-15-3
Lightning 16-14-6
Penguins 15-13-6
Capitals 15-14-5
Bruins 15-14-4
As for tonight’s game with Montreal, the Canadiens are a totally different club than the one the Canes have handled easily in the two previous meetings. Carolina beat the Habs 4-1 in Montreal, early in the season and then shut them out, 4-0, three months ago at PNC Arena. Sebastian Aho has 2 goals and 3 assists in the pair of games. Teuvo Teravainen has 4 points (2g, 2a) and Jaccob Slavin had a hat trick of assists in the shutout win in the last game of December.
In January, the Canadiens fired head coach Dominique Ducharme and replaced him with former Lightning star Martin St. Louis and while Les Habitants aren’t great, they are much, much better. In the 45 games before the coaching change Montreal was 8-30-7 with a -79 goal differential. They were averaging 2.22 goals per game and allowing a fraction shy of 4 per night!
Since St. Louis took over – with exactly zero head coaching experience on any major level – the Canadiens are 10-8-4, scoring 3.32 goals per game and yielding just 3.4. The special teams numbers are about the same, which is to say, not great. Their power play is 30th in the league and their penalty kill stands 28th. But, this is not the doormat they were for the first half of the year.
Money line: Carolina -430. O/U: 6 goals.
Coverage of the Canes and Habs begins at 6:30 with Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell on 99.9 the Fan. Opening face off is just after 7:00. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.
