Nino a no-go for Game 1? Hurricanes forward “questionable” for opener
Just when the Carolina Hurricanes got out from wondering whether Jaccob Slavin would play that night, Nino Niederreiter has entered the discussion.
The forward left the ice in the middle of Saturday’s practice and was “questionable” for Sunday’s Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Sunday. On Saturday, Brind’Amour said of Niederreiter’s departure, “I don’t think it will be an issue.”
Niederreiter had one goal in six games in the first-round series against the Nashville Predators. If he’s unable to play, Brind’Amour said Saturday that Cedric Paquette was available to play against his former team if needed.
Paquette missed the final six games of the regular season and did not play against Nashville. He had three goals and four assists in 38 games after he was acquired from the Ottawa Senators for Ryan Dzingel.
A hero’s welcome
David Ayres, the Toronto emergency goalie and Zamboni driver who stepped in and shocked the world by backstopping the Hurricanes to a win over the Maple Leafs last February, was scheduled to be the second-intermission siren sounder on Sunday. Tripp Tracy was scheduled for pregame and N.C. State women’s tennis stars Jaeda Daniel and Alana Smith at the first intermission.
Strength on strength
If there was one constant theme ahead of the series from the Hurricanes, it was the danger of Tampa Bay’s power play and the need to stay out of the penalty box and not rely as heavily on the Hurricanes’ excellent penalty-kill as they did in the first round.
The Lightning were a 22.2 percent team in the regular season -- ninth in the NHL -- but with the postseason addition of Nikita Kucherov they converted at a 40.0 percent clip against the Florida Panthers in the first round, scoring eight power-play goals in the six-game series. Only the Colorado Avalanche, which went 6-for-12 in a sweep of the St. Louis Blues, has been better.
“They are extremely skilled, and you got to be careful, but that’s where you actually get worse if you’re too cautious,” Brind’Amour said. “They’ll eat you up. They’re going to get their chances regardless. We’ve just got to limit the amount of them by not taking penalties. When we do, we can’t change too much of what we’re doing. We’ve had success doing it the way we’re going to do it. But knowing that they’ll still get their chances.”
The Hurricanes limited the Predators to three power-play goals -- two with a two-man advantage -- on 26 chances, the most any team has faced in the playoffs so far. At 88.5 percent, the Hurricanes actually performed better than they did in the regular season, when they were third in the NHL at 85.2 percent.
Mystery men
While a great deal of attention has surrounded Kucherov’s return to the Lightning after missing the entire season, especially as he leads the NHL with 11 postseason points, the Hurricanes have an X-factor of their own. Among the 35 games Teuvo Teravainen missed this season were all eight against Tampa Bay. Teravainen had a goal and an assist against Nashville.
“We haven’t seen Teravainen on their team,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t think he played a game against us this year. You’re getting slightly different looks. In the end, Game 1 is a feel-out game, kind of get a gauge for where things are and go from there.”
Teravainen had a goal and an assist against Nashville, and was notably on the ice for only one Predators goal the entire series.
Tailwinds
Martin Necas took a three-game point streak into the second round. … Brind’Amour would pass Peter Laviolette for second-most playoff wins by a coach in franchise history with a win. Paul Maurice has 25; Brind’Amour went into Sunday tied with Laviolette with 16.
