'Canes, caps achieve in different ways | The Arkansa's democrat gazette

Arlington, va. – There is a big difference between the attempt by Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals to score goals.

The Hurricanes are by far the highest firing volume in the NHL playoffs, while the capitals, which are led by the all-time leader of the league in gates Alex Ovechkin, are more selective and use their defense to create offensive through the focus of sales. When it comes to defense, the divisional competitors who meet in the second round start with game 1 on Tuesday evening in Washington, who mimics each other.

As Carolina trainer Rod Brind'amour said: “We play exactly the same.” This makes the series a showdown with “No Secrets”, said the defender of Veteran Capitals John Carlson.

“There are no surprises,” said his coach Spencer Carbery on Monday after training. “We only know the advantages and disadvantages of many systems because we play the same thing. … It will only be two teams (from) who can do it better and who can make it more consistent for a long period of time.”

The Hurricanes and Capitals each went to the playoffs with the lead of home and won their first round in five games against New Jersey or Montreal. The teams have been idle for almost a week.

You recently played a series in 2019 that Carolina won in seven.

“We are definitely ready,” said Sebastian Aho, who led Carolina against the devils with eight points and is now a father after his wife born on Friday. “We are definitely rested. We were sharp. We practiced well. It is a good fight, but we are ready for it.”

Special teams

The Hurricanes flourished on the PowerPlay in the first round and stopped all 15 Devils Power Play attempts. Carolina is the only playoff team that checked 100% on the PK and at the same time achieves a abbreviation goal.

The power game was an area that has been a problem for years. Not this time. Carolina converted 6 out of 19 chances and achieved a speed of 31.6% or fifth best in the first round after he had only clicked 14.9% in the last six playoff appearances.

The capitals that allowed the Canadia to go 5 out of 15 to the power game to take the 13th out of 16 teams in the kill with 66.7% are full. It helps to have large strikers Aliaksei -Protas out of a longer absence.

Stroms and ovechkin

Dylan Strome, a point-a game producer during the season, led Washington in the first round with nine points in the goal. The only player who has more on average? Three times MVP Connor McDavid.

The contributions from Strome may fly with Ovechkin and Tom Wilson under the radar in a team, but Carbery described the Canadian channels on the series for the recognition of the great effects of the 28-year-old.

“He should get this recognition because he did aggressively,” said Carbery. “He had a great first round and deserves a lot of recognition why we are where we are.”

The 39 -year -old Ovechkin, who scored four goals and had some big hits among his 19 over five games.

“He has the ability to change the game with a goal with a big game with a blocked shot,” said Wilson. “Manufacturers do this: they act in the difficult moments and jeopardize their body.”

Deep lines

Since the Hurricanes Mikko Rantannen prompted themselves at the end of the trade, they have rely on their forward depth in order to maintain the pressure with an aggressive philosophy of Forecheck and Puck-Control. The fourth center of Mark Jankowski illustrated that they against the devils.

Brind'amour has optimized its forward groups to use Jankowski-Einen Merchanter Additional Added to Merchant, who scored eight goals with Carolina against Jack Roslovic in 19 games, and it helped with the same strength and in the penalty. Brind'amour said Jankowski's “Direct” style is suitable for the playoffs, so the hurricanes probably stay with him to start this series.

“Obviously I wanted to be in there immediately,” said Jankowski. “But we have such a good team and our depth is something that we are very proud of. It is a great strength of us.”

Get a Heathier

Carolina was supposed to have goalkeeper Frederik Andersen No. 1 back after being emitted from game 4 of the first round, which supports Pyotr Kochetkov for the rest of the series. Andersen also has a new contract extension. Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi was supposed to be back after threw a stick on his right eye late in the 5th game and pulled the penalty that paved the way for the AHO winning goal.

Washington was afraid when goalkeeper Logan Thompson game 3 left an injury in Montreal, but he returned a few nights later and was excellent to stop 132 out of 143 shots in the series.

“He was great, even if I overloaded him,” said Strome. “He got back pretty well, so I'm very grateful for that.”

The capitals got back at the end of the first round of Protas after missing a skate cut on his left foot for three weeks.