ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Carolina and Colorado have been well-built for a championship run for a few years now.
The Hurricanes and the Avalanche have put on a clinic for how to start the race.
The top two
teams in the NHL during the regular season, seemingly on a collision course to meet in the Stanley Cup Final, have been performing on the ice with a force to match their natural-disaster-themed nicknames. Neither the Canes nor the Avs have lost a game in these playoffs.
With a 4-1 win at Philadelphia on Thursday to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Hurricanes became the 13th team in NHL history to start a postseason with seven straight wins. Eight of the first 12 won the Stanley Cup.
The Hurricanes will send sizzling goalie Frederik Andersen out for Game 4 on Saturday to try to finish off the Flyers, seeking a sweep that would give them the league's first 8-0 start in the playoffs since 1985.
“I would anticipate we’re going to give it our best, because we’re going to need to,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’re not going to win if we don’t put our best foot forward.”
Only three teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but plenty of teams have managed to at least force a fifth game.
“The fourth one is the hardest one to win. No one wants to go home,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “It's going to be a brand-new challenge.”
Only two teams have started the playoffs 7-0 in the last three decades. Colorado, which has already scored 14 goals on Minnesota in their Western Conference semifinal series, would make it two in the same year by winning Game 3 on Saturday night. The NHL gave the Avalanche and Wild three days between games to sync up the schedules of the four ongoing series.
“For our team, the energy and pace that we want to play with on a nightly basis that helps us have success, it doesn’t hurt,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It doesn’t hurt to be rested and recovered and still get a little practice time in to go out and feel good about your puck touches and your systems and everything. Meetings don’t have to get crammed in. You can take your time and get feedback from the guys."
The Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs in each of eight seasons under Brind’Amour, lost to eventual champion Florida in the Eastern Conference finals last year. They would tie for the 10th-longest winning streak in a single NHL postseason by beating the Flyers on Saturday. Twenty-three teams in league history have won eight or more consecutive playoff games in the same year, and 18 of them won the Stanley Cup.
One of the five that came up short was the 1992 Chicago Blackhawks, who matched the all-time record with 11 straight playoff wins. The Pittsburgh Penguins also staked claim to the record that spring, finishing with a four-game sweep in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Avalanche are aiming to emulate the way the Canes powered through the Philadelphia crowd noise to win a feisty Game 3. Minnesota has not hosted a game this late in the postseason since 2015.
“It will be a rockin’ environment,” Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood said. “That’s what makes playoff so fun, right?”
When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).
Series: Hurricanes lead 3-0.
The Flyers have been unable to solve Carolina's stifling defense, with just three goals in three games. Their league-worst power play during the regular season has carried over, with just one goal in 12 opportunities in this series and a 3-for-29 showing in nine playoff games.
When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 9 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).
Series: Avalanche lead 2-0.
The Wild have spent the extra time off trying to shore up their penalty kill, which has been dearly missing center Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin. But after dominating Dallas at even strength in the first round they've also struggled to contain Colorado's high-octane forwards in 5-on-5 situations. Minnesota might go back to rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt after giving Filip Gustavsson the net for a 5-2 loss in Game 2.
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AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
