Welcome to My Mind

The second round is set to get underway with the Canes and Lightning meeting for the first time in the postseason after finishing off Nashville and Florida in six-game series respectively. The big news for the Canes is the likely absence of Nino Niederreiter following a reported injury during practice on Saturday, according to head coach Rod Brind'Amour. However, his injury is likely to make way for the return of Cedric Paquette, who missed the end of the regular season and the entire first-round series. Tampa has their full arsenal ready to go, headlined by Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. In my opinion, this is the battle between the 3rd and 4th best teams in the league, behind only Colorado and Vegas. This series is going to be a bloodbath. The winner of this series is likely to be in a great position to win the Stanley Cup. Though the series is starting in Raleigh, Tampa won Games 1 and 2 in Florida in the first round, so starting on the right foot to ope...

It took many overtime games, but the Carolina Hurricanes were finally able to finish off the Nashville Predators on Thursday night on the road with a 4-3 OT win on Sebastian Aho's deflection goal just 66 seconds in. It was the culmination of an extremely hard-hitting and back-and-forth series. Nashville came into the series as the four-seed in the Central Division. After starting the season 13-17-1, the Predators went 18-6-1 over their last 25 games to clinch a playoff spot. They had also clinched their playoff spot by beating the Hurricanes in the final two games of the regular season. The season series had been decisively in Carolina's favor, despite losing those two games to close the regular season, earning 12 of a possible 16 points compared to Nashville's five and outscoring them 24-17 in eight meetings. Many "experts" picked the Canes to win the series in four or five games, though some did expect it to go longer. My general feeling was that none of these p...

We officially have our first elimination game of the series and the Canes are on the right side of things. After a great come-from-behind win in Game 5 capped off by a Jordan Staal winner in overtime, the Canes are the proud owners of a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 moving to Nashville. The home team has won every game in this series to date, which would seem to play in the Preds' favor for tonight's game. Because I'm a bit of a history nerd, I did some research on the team in Game 6's. The Canes, since relocation, have played in 11 Game 6's, going 6-5 in those games. The Canes held a 3-2 advantage in seven of those games and have gone 4-3, meaning they've finished the series in six games four times. In the three prior instances where they lost Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead, they won Game 7 each time, in fact, the Canes have won all five Game 7's since moving to Raleigh. 4-3 is also their record on the road in Game 6. If you believe in jinxes or worry a lot, s...

The series is back in Raleigh for Game 5 with the series knotted at two games apiece. The Canes lost both games in Nashville in 2 OT after winning the first two at home. They've been without Jaccob Slavin for the past three games, but that looks like it's changing tonight as Slavin is set to draw back into the lineup for this fifth game. The team is going to need strong performances from its stars, namely Andrei Svechnikov and Dougie Hamilton after both have underperformed in the last several games. To add to the woes, the stars of the Predators are heating up after not putting up huge regular season numbers. Juuse Saros has been the biggest thorn in the Canes' sides in the last two games and is a major reason why Nashville is even in the series. Alex Nedeljkovic is starting yet again after playing well enough to keep the Canes in the game for both losses. With the crowd back in the Canes' favor, tonight is bound to be a barn-burner. This game is essentially a must-win ...

It's put up or shut up time for the Canes going into Game 4. After taking the first two games at home, Nashville bounced back with a 5-4 2 OT win in Game 3, narrowing the Canes lead in the series to 2-1. For the third game in a row, the Canes will be without Jaccob Slavin. There are no lineup changes, meaning Max Lajoie, who I thought played well despite the hooking penalty in the second overtime, will remain in the lineup. This also means Alex Nedeljkovic will be getting the start in net for the fourth straight game. I thought he also played well despite allowing five goals. The defense in front of him needs to be a lot better if they want to return home with a 3-1 lead. This means preventing Nashville from stretching the ice and getting in 1-on-1 with the goalie, something that happened twice in Game 4, leading to goals each time. With a 2:30p start, this game is bound to be really weird. There's always something about non-7p or 8p starts that feel weird to me. I expect the C...

The series shifts from Raleigh to Nashville and so too could the momentum given how rabid the fans of Nashville can be once it's playoff time. The Canes won the first two games by three goals each and hold a 2-0 series in the best of seven series. Alex Nedeljkovic has taken over the start of this series, including pitching a shutout in Game 2. The team win in Game 2 was also big given the lack of Jaccob Slavin in the lineup and it is looking that will be the case again tonight. Max Lajoie will slot in if Slavin can't go. The change in scenery is going to benefit Nashville far more than Carolina, so a strong start could take the fans right out of it from the onset. Another major story from Game 2 was the penalty kill. Even though it was perfect, having to go to the kill seven times and expecting it to be perfect each game is not sustainable. The regular season ended with Nashville winning two straight at home over the Canes, albeit with a less than healthy lineup. A 3-0 series l...

Spurred on by a strong third period, the Carolina Hurricanes claimed the first game of the best of seven against the Nashville Predators 5-2. Jordan Staal scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic earned the win in his first career postseason start, a first for the franchise. Ned will get the start again facing off with Juuse Saros, Nashville's Game 1 starter. With a 1-0 series lead, the ideal scenario would be for the team to be leading 2-0 heading into two straight on the road in a hostile environment. It will take a start just like how they finished on Monday night to ensure they achieve just that. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if Nashville comes out with more tenacity and frustration after the way they played in Game 1. What will be interesting is seeing how each team reacts to having Jaccob Slavin out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. This will no doubt be a major loss for the Canes' defensive core. Jake Gardiner is slotting in for Slavin. This is going to be...

For the first time since the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes are opening up a series at home. To add to the excitement, PNC Arena welcomed 12,000 fans after capacity was increased. Having not played a true playoff home game since losing to the Boston Bruins two seasons ago, this isn't something the team has been used to. There were a lot of question heading into the game on the injury front, but the team had nearly a full compliment of players. What follows is my view of the game from my couch. While I might not have been there in person, the view couldn't have been any better. 1st Period: Predators 1, Hurricanes 1 The atmosphere coming through the television from the 12,000 fans in PNC Arena could certainly be felt throughout the entire period. The period as a whole had every major staple of playoff hockey. The action was fast, the hits were hard, and the players were not messing around. It didn't take long for the boys in stripes to get involved in the ...