Quoting: Steven_Stamkos
Calling all playoff teams!!!
This post is for any fans of teams who will be in the playoffs, or teams who still may get in. Florida, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Calgary. I'm excluding Nashville and anyone else in the east because I don't think they have any real shot of getting in, and if they did, I think they'd be one and done.
I'm going to be doing a playoff preview/prediction post that is equivalent to a novel. I have to wait until matchups are determined before I post.
I would really appreciate feedback for this.
I only want to hear factual things. Don't bother responding and giving comments about teams that you know nothing about or hardly watch and don't truly know their game.
If you have the time or inclination, I would like the three biggest factors for _____ teams success in a series/playoffs. Example- Having an effective powerplay, not letting a game turn into a track meet, locking down star xyz on the opposing team, an individual players role in the series, goaltending, penalties, 5v5 play, coaching, home ice, etc.
I also would like 3 factors that would lead to the downfall of ______ team in a series/the playoffs. For example- taking bad or too many penalties, letting games become too high scoring, playing against a team that is too physical for them to handle, letting star xyz walk all over you and put up great numbers, etc.
It obviously can be something other than I listed. You guys know your own teams better than casual fans. It doesn't have to be 3 of each. It could just be anything you could add and tell me about your team that could give me a deeper understanding of said squad heading in to the playoffs.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated and I will tag everyone who helped out in the process.
Thanks for reading.
For Carolina
Biggest factors to success:
Getting offence from forwards other than Aho and Necas. The Canes have a lot of depth, on paper, but it seems like all of it has been slumping. Jarvis isn't going right now, Teravainen isn't playing great, Kotkaniemi has been cold since his 5 point game, the third line has stopped providing a lot of offence. Any of those players/lines start clicking and getting hot to provide another force up front would go a long way to making the team successful. Their defensive core, especially Skjei and Burns, have been a godsend
The Power Play: The Canes' powerplay hasn't been great through the regular season, and this overlaps quite a lot with getting offence from depth forwards. If the powerplay starts clicking at above league average, and they have that potential, especially with the addition of Gostisbehere as a shooting threat
Playing multiple goaltenders. Though unorthodox for the playoffs, where most teams play one goaltender every game, Andersen and Raanta both get worse the more consecutive games they play. If Kochetkov is playing playoff games, he may have the stamina to take an entire series, but the two that they currently have need to rotate to keep them playing well. All three of them have very similar stats, and if anything Kochetkov looks the best out of any of them, but it's not like playing Andersen instead of Raanta brings down their chances of winning like, say, NYR playing not-Shesterkin
Things that will destroy them:
The penalty kill falling apart (like it did last year). Right now the "power kill" is running very, very well. I think Travis Yost recently said that the Canes PK surrenders goals at the same rate as the average NHL team surrenders 5v5 goals. However, if the penalty kill falters through being figured out or through weak goaltending, their biggest strength starts working against them. The Canes take a LOT of penalties due to their aggressive style and their..... reputation around the league, so the PK staying strong is vital. We also saw during the Rangers series that once the team lost confidence in their kill, they started playing a lot more timid and afraid of being called for aggressive play and were on their heels.
Defensive Injuries: The Hurricanes have 14 quality forwards even without Svechnikov and Pacioretty, but if they go past Gostisbehere-Chatfield, their next men up are De Haan and Coghlan, both of whom have been extremely suspect on the defensive side of things all year. Max Lajoie
should be the next defenseman up, but he isn't, and even he is a large downgrade from either Chatfield or Gostisbehere.
Steven_Stamkos a aimé ceci.
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