In two playoff games so far, Artemi Panarin has been credited with exactly HALF as many shots on goal as he had in the entire Six game series with the Devils last year. This is a REALLY positive sign.
Rangers look good, it looks like they are not even trying and still dominating the game. Capitals are done, they literally have one line bringing the energy. Rangers are not allowing Ovie to receive puck on PP which begs me to ask, why don’t capitals make Ovie move from his favorite spot?
The refs have been abysmal. The Hurricanes actually have a functioning power play. They keep calling the games like this and it’ll be a real tough time.
Carolina doesn't like playing the tough physical style of hockey we play .... I'm seeing a lopsided series again
Have you watched Carolina much? You are most likely going to be seriously disappointed if you think Rangers are going to win this lopsidedly. IMO these are probably the 2 best teams in the NHL right now. Check every online sports book, the Hurricanes are the betting favorite on all of them to win the Cup. On Caesar’s Canes +400 Oilers, Panthers, Avs all favored over Rangers who are +650. This series is most likely going 7 and who wins is a toss up. I also think the winner of the series wins takes the Cup fairly easily after this series.
Isles fan here. Carolina is good but they are beatable. Even though the Isles lost in 5 games I thought they were right there with them as they had chances to win in all of the games. Of the course the Isles are a bad team, so they didn't. I agree with you that this series will go 6 or 7 games, but I will say Carolina needs to play better than they did in Rd 1 as the Rangers are a much better team than the Isles. As for the winner of this series winning the Cup. It's possible as both the Rangers and Canes are good teams but don't forget the Panthers, and teams out west like the Stars/Knights winner and even the Oilers are a threat to win it as well. This should be a fun series to watch.
The Canes played about as bad as they have played all Calendar year in the series against the Islanders. The are a much much better team than was on display that series. I agree that they cannot play that way against the Rags, but I don’t think that is likely to happen, they are too well coached and talented to let that happen. I was a long time Islanders STH until I moved to Raleigh in 2002 and been a Canes STH since 2005-06, so I am not going to deny a little bias but also watching them play 82 games you get a good feel for what you have. Since the new year started the Canes have been the best team in the NHL (32-10-3) after a sluggish start and are a much different team with Guentzel and Kutznetzov. They have been on the cusp for the last 6 years but always had injury and goalie concerns. This is the first playoff year that we have our top 2 Goalies healthy. I will also add as lifelong Jets fan it is a very weird feeling having the team I root for being favored to win - I wonder if it is a feeling you get used to, I don’t know any Chiefs fans.
