Heading into the Eastern Conference final of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Carolina Hurricanes were in a very good place. They demolished the New Jersey Devils in five games in the first round, then eliminated the Washington Capitals with relative ease by sending them home in a five-game second-round victory. And the ‘Canes did it with defense, allowing only seven goals to the Caps, and just 11 goals to the Devils.
With that in mind, it was fair to presume the Hurricanes would put the squeeze on the defending Cup-champion Florida Panthers in the Eastern final. But instead, the opposite has happened, with the Panthers generating 16 goals in the first three games against the Hurricanes, and Florida staking out a commanding 3-0 series lead over Carolina after romping to a 6-2 win in Game 3.
While you can’t pin down just one reason for the Canes’ struggles against the Panthers, we’ve already seen Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour changing up his goaltending picture, pulling starter Frederik Andersen after two letdown games, and going with backup Pyotr Kochetkov, to no avail, in Carolina’s Game 3 loss.
The disappointment has put Andersen in a particularly bad spot, as he had signed a one-year contract extension at the start of May. The 35-year-old looked terrific against the Devils and Capitals, posting a save percentage of .905 or higher in seven of his nine games in the first two rounds. But the bottom fell out of Andersen’s game against the Panthers, as he posted an a save percentage of .750 in both Games 1 and 2 before Brind’Amour put him on the bench in favor of Kochetkov in Game 3.
Small wonder, then, that the Hurricanes have lost all three games against Florida thus far in their Eastern final series. Kochetkov has put up a save percentage of .886 or worse in three of his four playoff appearances this year, and he had nothing going for him in Game 3, as the Panthers hung up six goals on 28 shots on him for a bleak .786 SP.
The Panthers were always going to be a tough opponent for Carolina, but when their goaltending hasn’t been up to snuff, the Hurricanes have been on the wrong end of three blowout games. If the ‘Canes are swept by the Panthers, it would be a letdown of the highest order for a team many believed would be significantly better this season. But they’re now on the verge of being swept in the Eastern final for the second time in the past three seasons, and they still haven’t won even a single Eastern final game since they…