Hurricanes 5, Devils 1: Disappointing but expected

The well rested Hurricanes jumped all over the Devils early, essentially ending the game before it really started.

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A few notes following Game 1 of Devils vs Hurricanes:

There’s no reason to panic

I’m not going to say I expected the Devils to have one shot – a soft little dump-in gently guided to Frederik Andersen – more than 22 minutes into the game. The Devils being fed lunch early was not the least bit surprising, though.

The Hurricanes are an effort team. Yes, they have skilled players to go with their lunch pale mentality. But their entire way of playing is predicated on maximum effort every single shift.

They want to grind opponents down and take away their space before they have time to do anything with it. It’s a taxing style of play all about constant pressure and making teams fight for every inch.

There won’t be a better time to really lean into that than last night. Carolina was extremely well rested, sitting on the sidelines from Friday-Wednesday.

It was a much different story for the Devils. They had but one day off in between the first and second round and had to travel.

There was every reason to believe they’d be slow out of the gate and the Hurricanes – rested and chomping at the bit to get going again – would pounce all over them. That’s exactly what happened.

New Jersey barely had the puck in the opening period. When they did, there was so much pressure in their face that they simply tossed it away so they could breathe for a few seconds before the next Carolina attack.

Did I expect the Hurricanes to have a 96 xGF% following 20 minutes of play? No. But, again, the stars aligned perfectly for the Hurricanes to come out and really make a statement early.

The Devils regrouped in the 2nd period and, as they always do, pushed back the rest of the way. At 5v5 they won the xG battle 1.85-1.02 over the final 40 minutes and spent a lot more time making the Hurricanes defend.

They really had to work to grind out opportunities – as will be the case all series – but that wasn’t a problem. They were able to get some good looks, which should serve as a bit of a confidence booster moving forward.

Last night wasn’t 60 minutes of garbage, which is generally what you see in a 5-1 game. It was 20 minutes of garbage and then some foundation laying over the remaining two periods.

There’s no reason to believe the Hurricanes will simply wipe the deck with the Devils. We know the Devils are a great 5v5 team. We know they respond to adversity. And we know they have reinforcements coming in the way of their best high-danger chance generator in Timo Meier.

Tip your hat to the Hurricanes for a great showing – particularly early – and move on. It’s a long series.

The 2nd pairing struggled mightily