The Hurricanes’ big advantage over the Predators in upcoming Game 5? The Caniacs.
They flew into Nashville feeling so good about themselves, having won their first two games in Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Carolina Hurricanes don’t have a lot of swagger, that’s not their style. but they are a confident hockey team. They won the Central Division. Before coming to Nashville, they had beaten the Predators in eight of 10 games. Their body language and demeanor was positive, their play outstanding.
But awaiting the Canes at Bridgestone Arena was a crowd of more than 12,000 Predators fans, seemingly ready to will their team back into the first-round series. They were loud early and they were loud late, through one overtime into a second, in Game 3 and Game 4 and the Predators, fully engaged, fed off the energy.
When the players’ legs began to tire and the lungs burning, the crowd was there, thundering. Nashville’s Matt Duchene scored in the second overtime of Game 3 on Friday for a 5-4 victory. Luke Kunin did the same Sunday for a 4-3 win. It was a series tied 2-2 going to Game 5 at PNC Arena on Tuesday.
“A tough pill to swallow,” Canes forward Brock McGinn said Sunday.
And what now?
“It’s two really good fan bases that take a lot of pride in getting their buildings rocking,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said Sunday. “I have no doubt the Caniacs are sitting back home biting their fingernails, getting ready to tear the roof off that place.”
As Martinook put it, the Preds “held court” by winning their two home games. It took two overtimes each time but they did it, found a way. Now, the Canes need to do the same.
“We know what PNC can do,” Martinook said of Canes fans. “Can’t wait to get back in front of them and get them juicing us up.”
Where did the Canes go wrong at Nashville?
With a playoff game every other day, and part of Sunday night spent traveling, the players will need to recoup quickly. Having now played the Predators 12 times, the coaches won’t look to make substantial changes.
“I thought we played great,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Sunday’s Game 4. “I felt like we had the play most of the game. In overtime it felt like we were in their end. It’s one of those things. We couldn’t find a way to get one.”
Brind’Amour can only hope that injured defenseman Jaccob Slavin will be able to play after missing the past three games. Slavin’s absence has been felt. Dougie Hamilton, Slavin’s defensive partner, has not been the same without him and did not play well Sunday.
Hamilton’s tripping penalty early in the third period after Brock McGinn had given the Canes a 3-2 lead with his second goal, resulted in a Preds power-play goal. On Kunin’s winning goal, Hamilton was behind the net instead of in front of it and could not recover quickly enough, leaving goalie Alex Nedeljkovic exposed for Kunin’s winning shot.
No one can fault Nedeljkovic, a rookie in his first Stanley Cup playoffs, but Juuse Saros was the better goaltender the past two games. He was Sunday in stopping 58 shots, a franchise record in the playoffs.
One can fault the Canes’ power play. They were 0-4 Sunday with a man advantage -- Carolina is 2-for-14 in the series -- as the Canes’ top unit remained predictable, the puck movement too slow. Maybe Brind’Amour will consider changing things up on the two units -- Teuvo Teravainen, for example, might be best suited on the top unit.
The pressure is on the favorite
In 2019, the Canes lost the first two games to the Washington Capitals on the road to start their first-round series. They came back to PNC Arena to win twice. Most people know the rest, of how McGinn’s goal in double overtime won Game 7 in Washington to eliminate the 2018 Stanley Cup champions. Once a series take a swing ..
The Canes are 22-3-5 at home this season, including the two playoff wins over Nashville. The Predators have never won a playoff series after losing the first two games on the road. But do those records really mean anything?
The Cane.s have often said that the playoff losses to the Boston Bruins the past two years have only added to their hunger to go farther in the playoffs. They believe they have the team to do it. But the Predators seemed to be the hungrier team the past two games and handed the Canes two gut-wrenching losses.
“We’ve got to keep our heads held high here,” McGinn said. “It’s a long series and it’s now a best-of-three. We’ve got to go home, regroup. We need to go back and get PNC rocking.”
Predators at Hurricanes
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh
This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 8:58 PM.
