How to watch Game 1, Hurricanes vs. Bruins: Forslund or Maniscalco, NBC or Fox Sports?
What: Game 1, First round of Stanley Cup playoffs.
When: 8 p.m., Tuesday.
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto.
Watch, listen: Fox Sports Carolina will televise the game and simulcast it on WCMC-99.9 The Fan. NBC Sports Network also is televising the game.
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John Forslund or Mike Maniscalco?
NBC Sports Network or Fox Sports Carolinas?
Carolina Hurricanes fans will have a choice as the Canes and Boston Bruins match up in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto. Game 1 is Tuesday in Scotiabank Arena, with an 8 p.m. start.
NBC Sports confirmed Monday that Forslund, until recently the Canes’ longtime play-by-play broadcaster, would handle NBC’s play by play in the first four games of the best-of-seven playoff series. Games 1, 2 and 4 will be shown on the NBC Sports Network and Game 3 will be a national NBC broadcast — all available in the Triangle TV market.
Fox Sports Carolinas televises the team’s games during the regular season and televised the postseason qualifying round against the New York Rangers. With Forslund unable to come to terms with the team on a new contract, Maniscalco was chosen to handle the play by play alongside analyst Tripp Tracy while Abby Labar took over Maniscalco’s previous job as rinkside reporter and pregame host.
Forslund called Canes games during the qualifying round but the NBC Sports Network feed was blacked out in the Triangle. That will not be the case in the first round of the playoffs, NBC Sports Group said Monday, and Forslund and analyst Mike Milbury will call Tuesday’s game.
“There are a lot of ways you can look at that,” Forslund said Tuesday in an interview. “If fans want to get just Canes-centric then they will watch the local broadcast, I would think. I don’t know. I know we’re in prime time and I’ve got the prime-time game and they’re playing Boston and that has a lot to do with it. That’s all I’m thinking about.
“Even though Mike (Milbury) is down the middle, many associate him with the Bruins. Some Canes fans probably don’t like that. If they want to watch me they can watch me. If they want to do the Canes thing they can go over there. It depends on whatever they want to do.”
Canes fans have taken to social media to offer their opinions, some saying they would remain loyal to Fox Sports Carolinas, the Canes’ regional broadcaster, and others saying they would be tuning in to hear Forslund’s call on NBCSN.
While Maniscalco and Tracy are calling the games remotely from a studio in Raleigh’s PNC Arena, using TV feeds, Forslund is on-site in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. His first game was the first of the postseason qualifying round: Carolina vs the New York Rangers on Aug. 1, with a noon start.
“I was happy to get that first game and did their (qualifying) clinching game,” he said. “I was happy to kind of get it flushed out of me.”
Forslund said he has talked with Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour a few times and had some quick conversations with a few Canes players although there has been no socializing in the NHL’s protective bubble.
“It’s been different,” he said. “It’s almost like I’m still with them but I have to keep reminding myself I’m not. That’s kind of strange.”
Forslund said he has seen Canes president and general manager Don Waddell in Toronto but said there have been no discussions about a possible return to the booth for the 2020-21 season.
“If they want to bring me back they could call me but they’re not calling,” Forslund said. “I’m just moving on. I professionally have to do that.”
The Bruins swept the Canes in four straight games in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals and followed up this season by piling up a league-leading 100 points before the season was paused during the pandemic. But Boston looked pedestrian in the three round-robin games among the top four Eastern Conference teams in Toronto, losing all three, while the Canes won three straight against the Rangers.
“It’s hard to forecast this series because we’ll find out in a few hours who the Bruins really are,” Forslund said. “They didn’t look anything like themselves in the round robin but you can’t really draw a conclusion until you see them (Tuesday) night.
“If they get to their game they’re my pick to win it all and come out of the East. If the Canes play the same way they did against the Rangers, and utilize all their strengths, all their puck pursuit and all their forechecking and pushing the pace of the games, I think they’ll have a good chance because I’m not sure the Bruins can keep up. I don’t know how this four- or five-month layoff affected some of the Bruins’ older guys. So we’ll see.”
Forslund said he expected injured defenseman Dougie Hamilton to be back in the Canes lineup after missing the qualifying round. Brind’Amour said later Tuesday it would be a game-time decision.
“If the Bruins play their game and win the special teams and lean on them a little bit, it’ll be interesting to see where the Canes go,” Forslund said. “For me that’s the only thing standing in (the Canes’) way of being a great team, that they’re a little bit light.
“But we’ll see. It’s hard to hit something you can’t catch. The Canes, with their quickness, with their team game, were impressive against the Rangers.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 12:49 PM.
