PLAYOFF PREVIEW - METRO

Adamo Rimoli & Jared Rotenberg

NYR - PIT

On Tuesday, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins are set to begin their playoff series at the iconic Madison Square Garden. The timeless building has gone 28 years without a banner raising as the Artemi Panarin-led squad looks to capture their first Stanley Cup since 1994. On the flip side, the Penguins are led by the now aging core that has won three Stanley Cups in the last 13 years. Heading into the series, the major X-factor on both sides will inevitably be the goaltending.

For the blueshirts, 25 year old netminder Igor Shesterkin just put up Vezina calliber numbers posting a 0.935 SV% with a 2.35 GAA in his 53 appearances. The biggest question mark for him is if the steady play can transfer over to the playoffs. His lone postseason game of his career happened in the bubble during a 4-1 defeat against the Hurricanes.

On the contrary, Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry also put up a stellar season of his own posting a 0.919 SV% with a 2.42 GAA over 58 games. Despite also being just a couple months older than Shesterkin, the Penguins have turned to Jarry for 7 playoff games that were uninspiring to say the least. In those 7 games, he failed to register a save percentage above 0.900 in 4 of them which was good for a record of 2-5-0.

In the last 4 seasons, both teams have combined for a grand total of zero playoff series wins but that streak will break in the coming weeks. Heading into the series, the Penguins are the slight betting favourites at -115 odds.

CAR - BOS

This is a series that has been made significantly closer than it otherwise would have been had it not been for a late-season injury to the Carolina Hurricanes starting goaltender Frederik Andersen. This injury is expected to keep Andersen out of the entirety of the first round of the playoff, and this is a tough blow for the Hurricanes chances.

Regardless of this injury, however, the Hurricanes have been one of the best defensive teams in the National Hockey League all season long, and I do believe that their great play will allow them to remain successful infront of Antti Raanta.

The Hurricanes finished the 2021-22 season with the lowest goals against per game average in the entire NHL, averaging 2.44 goals against. This is a result of their strong style of play, which in my opinion lends itself incredibly well to playoff hockey. The Canes are incredibly deep and gifted offensively as well, with a great combination of offensive starpower, young talent, and experienced veterans.

The Bruins were also strong in the goals against per game category this season, and they are a heavy and physical shutdown team, however I do find them to be much more top heavy than the Hurricanes, and this is a big bonus for the Canes when predicting the outcome of this series.

On top of this, while the Hurricanes are facing a major injury in net, the Bruins themselves do not have any sure-fire playoff goaltenders. Their tandem includes long time Buffalo Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark, without a single playoff game to his name, as well as rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

While the Canes going into the playoffs with their backup goaltender in net is far from ideal, I do believe Carolina still has the strength to not only survive, but thrive with Antti Raanta in net.

This regular season, in the three games that the Bruins and Hurricanes have played against one another, the Canes are 3-0-0, out-scoring the Bruins 16-1 throughout these games.

With this said, in my opinion this series absolutely has the makings of a victory for the deep roster of the Hurricanes.

Despite my prediction being a Hurricanes win, I do believe that the intensity of a playoff series will make the matchup significantly closer than what the regular season series showed.

For these reasons, I have the Carolina Hurricanes winning the series in Game 6.