Can’t Miss That

A quick primer on the Canes. This is their eighth straight season making the playoffs under head coach Rod Brind'Amour, and in every single appearance they've won at least one series. That said, they've also fallen short of the Cup Final every time, with a total of just one win across three conference final outings. In the regular season, they've racked up points with a tried-and-true formula that maximizes shot differential and keeps the puck as far away from their own net as possible. On an average night in the NHL, that work gets you wins on its own, and it's how the Canes finished fifth-best in the league in goals against even as none of their goalies played above average. But in a best-of-seven against one of the league's very top teams pushing themselves like there might not be a tomorrow, Carolina's consistently found itself on the wrong end of talent mismatches. The good news for the Canes, however, is that this might be the most skilled forward group yet assembled in Raleigh. A centerpiece in Sebastian Aho has been complemented by a new career high in goals and points for Andrei Svechnikov, an impactful free-agent signing in Nikolaj Ehlers, and younger guys who are developing at an exciting pace in Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven, and Jackson Blake. I might not pick them in a third-round clash with the Lightning, but the first round against the Senators is a different story—one that looks a lot like that 2-0 Game 1 victory. What I particularly loved, and which I'd been wowed by before, was the way they sucked the life out of Ottawa once they took the most dangerous lead in hockey, playing with both hustle and smarts on both ends to absolutely smother even the idea of comeback. It was as grand a statement of belief and purpose as you'll see at the start of a playoff run, and it's a testament to the culture Brind'Amour's cultivated that he's been able to get so much mileage out of this demanding and difficult style of hockey.