Decades of NHL history suggest the Carolina Hurricanes are an overwhelming favorite to win their Eastern Conference first-round series against the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils are relying on much more recent events to believe in their comeback hopes.
The Hurricanes will look to take a commanding lead in the series while the Devils will try to climb back into the best-of-seven set Friday night, when Carolina visits for Game 3 in Newark, N.J.
The host Hurricanes took a 2-0 series lead Tuesday when Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Martinook scored the tying and go-ahead goals less than three minutes apart in the second period of a 3-1 victory.
The consecutive wins at home put the Hurricanes, the second seed in the Metropolitan Division, in a historically dominant position. According to the NHL, teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven matchup go on to win the series more than 86 percent of the time (353-56).
Carolina is also accustomed to closing out series. The Hurricanes are the only NHL team to win at least one playoff round in each of the previous four seasons. They are 5-1 in that span in series in which they took a lead of two games to none. The only blemish a seven-game loss to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2022.
“We’re not going to sit back,” Gostisbehere said Tuesday. “They know what kind of team we are, we know what kind of team they are and we’re just going to get back to it.”
The Hurricanes surely know the Devils are one of the few recent teams to mount a comeback from an 0-2 hole. New Jersey stunned the Rangers in seven games in a 2023 Eastern Conference first-round series.
“I’m excited for the game,” said Devils center Nico Hischier, one of nine holdovers from the 2023 team to appear in the series so far. “We win one game and it’s a series.”
The Hurricanes have the upper hand in the series thanks to their strong special teams play. Carolina’s penalty kill has gone 5-for-5 in the first two games. Logan Stankoven scored a power-play goal in Sunday’s opener before Martinook put the hosts ahead with a short-handed goal 5:54 into the second period Tuesday.
“I think it always seems to come down to that, one way or the other,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday, referring to special teams. “Tonight, the game was so tight that that was the turning point. It’s something we preach all the time and we talk about it a lot — you’ve got to win that special teams battle because it is so important.”
The Devils took solace in the grittier effort they put forth Tuesday, when they were outshot 28-26 after being outshot 45-24 during a wire-to-wire loss in Game 1. New Jersey collected eight of the first nine shots in Game 2 and took the lead when Jesper Bratt scored 3:51 into the match.
“From Game 1 to (Tuesday), there was a big step in our game,” Bratt said. “We found a recipe that we need to play and we need to stick at it to be successful. If we do this night in and night out, things are going to go our way.”
Devils defensemen Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes, each of whom suffered undisclosed injuries during Game 1, did not practice Thursday, though defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler returned to the ice for the first time since he was sidelined with a lower-body injury Feb. 4. He remains questionable for Game 3.
–Field Level Media
