It’s been a long road to get here. It started in a warm September within the Wake Competition Center and Lenovo Center ice, it’s gone through preseason games, 82 regular season games, a three week break for the Olympics that saw each color of medal come back to the area, a quiet trade deadline, injuries, goalie drama and more. Rod Brind’Amour calls that part a marathon.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin today, with the Hurricanes and Senators kicking off the whole thing at 3 PM in Lenovo Center, in what
Brind’Amour calls the sprint.
There have been a ton of previews out there about the series as a whole. We have one, The Athletic dug into the numbers to show what their model has, and our own Kyle Morton wrote an outstanding one at The Daily Faceoff. You also can follow up with Cory Lavalette and Ryan Henkel—familiar names to long time Canes Country readers—to see their perspective as folks who see the team on a day-to-day basis. Carolina has been off since Tuesday, and to be honest they’ve been off for longer than that once they wrapped up the Metropolitan against Boston. We’ve filled the void with all sorts of speculation but now we get to see them on the ice.
Because of all those previews there’s not a lot to add about today, all of the big questions and matchups for the series at large apply. That said, when zooming in on Game One, there are two big questions Canes fans will have:
- Who is starting in goal?
- Will they start on time?
There isn’t going to be a morning skate today with the early start, so Brind’Amour will be able to hold the “intrigue” a little longer, but it would be one of the biggest shocks in the world if it isn’t Frederik Andersen. Andersen got two starts in a row to see if he could handle it, showing out in those two starts and ending strong when the Canes were loading up on rest. Granted the two teams were Chicago and Utah, but sometimes all it takes is a strong start to get momentum. The last two practices Carolina has had, he’s been in the starter’s crease. Brandon Bussi didn’t even spend the full time as the second goalie on Friday’s practice with Pyotr Kochetkov taking some shots. In short, while Bussi had done an excellent job putting his last bad start against Boston behind him and was the big reason why the Canes held on for a point on Monday and beat the Islanders in a rare back-to-back start, expect 31 to lead out the team today and take the crease.
The other question, of course, is how long the team will take to kick into gear. The last time the Canes faced Ottawa two weeks ago Brind’Amour was already resting a lot of the regulars. The full team hasn’t played together in at least two weeks, and they are facing an Ottawa team that’s had to be in playoff mode since the Olympic Break thanks to the issues the team dealt with and the craziness of the Atlantic. Resting was absolutely the right call as to win the Cup you need to be ready to play for two months and grab 16 more wins, not to mention unlimited overtimes. Still, Ottawa should be ready, can the Canes withstand the first push?
For Ottawa’s part, they held a practice at home before making the trip to spend the next few days in Raleigh. There’s no question who will start in net, and in terms of how they’ll lineup against the Canes, here’s their practice lines:
With last change, clearly the Staal line will be set up against the Stutzle line, it’s how the other two lines will matchup that’s the intrigue. We’ll likely get our answer early, maybe even at the start as the Senators have to submit their lineups first.
Oh yeah, we also will have a sold out Lenovo Center that typically takes it up to a different level for the playoffs? Maybe it’s a good thing they’ll be first even the crowd after a full day of tailgating would be—interesting. Chat about the game here, and if you aren’t going to be there in person here’s how you can catch the action:
Time: 3 PM
TV: It’s that time of year where you get both a National and a Local call. Enjoy it, if the Canes are able to make it to the next round the only local call will be on the radio. ESPN has the national broadcast with John Buccigross doing play-by-play and AJ Mleczko handling color. For FanDuel Sports Net in the Carolinas, Mike Maniscalco will handle play-by-play alongside Tripp Tracy doing color. Hanna Yates and Shane Willis will provide off-ice reports.
Streaming: ESPN Unlimited will have the game for National folks, FanDuel Sports Network App for fans in the Carolinas. A very important note—the NHL Power Play feature isn’t available on ESPN during the playoffs, so the only way to hear Mike and Tripp on the TV will be through the FanDuel app.
Radio: The pregame on 99.9 The Fan starts at 2PM and runs for 60 minutes in the playoffs. At 3PM the Hurricanes Radio Network (consisting of 99.9, 730 The Game in Charlotte, ESPN New Bern 107.5/1490, and ESPN Greenville 107.5/1570) picks up the FDSN feed. You can also stream the call on the Hurricanes app.
Odds (per Fanduel on Friday Night): Hurricanes -150 Moneyline, Puckline Hurricanes -1.5 at +152/Senators +125 Moneyline, Puckline +1.5 at -188, O/U 5.5 (-138 Over/+112 Under)
