WASHINGTON – Known for their shot volume of putting the puck on net from just about every angle, the Carolina Hurricanes moved on to the Eastern Conference final by keeping the Washington Capitals from doing anything of the sort.
The Hurricanes eliminated the Capitals in five games with a tight-checking defensive effort that was a masterclass of the kind of hockey coach Rod Brind'Amour wants his team to play. They limited their second-round opponent to under 20 shots a night, including seven or fewer in 11 of the 15 regulation periods in the series.
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“We’re a lot of just on top of guys," captain Jordan Staal said Thursday night after winning 3-1 to advance. “We just kind of give them the least amount of room and make them turn the puck over so we have the puck, and then when we have the puck, we try to move it as quick as we can into their end and grind them out.”
Carolina grinded through to a second East final appearance in three years in a total of 10 games. That certainly won't hurt 35-year-old goaltender Frederik Andersen, 40-year-old hulking defenseman Brent Burns or any players who might be nursing some bumps and bruises, such as Jalen Chatfield, who missed Game 5 with an undisclosed injury.
“Obviously, guys are getting banged up this time of year," defenseman Sean Walker said. "It’s a hard game, so rest definitely isn’t a bad thing.”
Brind'Amour hockey is a hard game in itself, requiring aggressive pressure without the puck to get it back. The captain when Carolina won the Stanley Cup in 2006, he is glad to get that kind of effort from a seasoned bunch willing to sacrifice and skate the extra few inches to take them away form the other team.
“What allows us to do that, I just think, is a high compete level,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s really all I can say about this group is just I’m proud of how they prepare and how much they play for each other.”
The praise was effusive from Capitals counterpart Spencer Carbery, who pointed to the shot totals as evidence of how dominant the Hurricanes were. Aliaksei Protas, a 30-goal scorer and Connor McMichael a 26-goal-scorer during the regular season, had three shots apiece.
Washington put nearly 27 shots on net during the regular season when it was the top team in the East. Same thing in the first round, beating Montreal in five games.
Facing Carolina is an entirely different animal.
“It is a great learning experience to feel what that just felt like because it was suffocating and guys had no space, could barely get shots off in that series,” Carbery said. “They are just relentless with their pressure and their ability to break plays up with their sticks. There’s no team in the league like it."
That's taking nothing away from Andersen, who allowed six goals on 95 shots in the series and made big saves when needed. But the Hurricanes also limited the quality scoring chances he had to face.
“The guys did a hell of a job,” Andersen said. “They support unbelievably hard with our game plan in mind as much as possible. I think that’s our game plan every night: to make it hard on the opponent to get anything going in our end.”
It's a game plan that has served the Hurricanes well making the playoffs in each of Brind'Amour's seven seasons behind the bench. But the difficulty level gets ratcheted up from here, potentially against defending champion Florida next, and Walker believes he and his teammates will maintain the same mindset that has made them successful.
“It’s just kind of the buy in, top down: the four lines, the three D-pairs, we’re all playing the same system and that’s a really suffocating game," Walker said. "We want to play in the O zone as much as we can, and when you’re doing that, you’re going to limit the amount of shots they have. I think we did that really well all series, and that’s going to be something that’s really important for us going forward.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl