Even I counted Nashville out for this one, though I personally was rooting for them right behind Pittsburgh. They made this a very entertaining series at that. We had 18 great periods of hockey with 6 extra periods in the last 4 games. Carolina looks very good right now, and they’re going to have their hands full with Tampa in the next round. One thing to note about this series is the Hurricanes' goaltending situation. I didn’t think that Nedeljkovic was going to get the nod, but he did. I was surprised by this, but he played a very solid series.
Game 1 went just about how everyone expected it too. The Hurricanes looked like the much better team. It was the most dominant game of the series by a mile, and the Hurricanes benefited a lot from it. The shots were 38–24 in favour of Carolina, and Juuse Saros tried his best. He stopped 33 of 37, but Andrei Svechnikov got the empty netter that guaranteed the 5–2 win and 1–0 series lead for the Hurricanes.
The 2nd game of this series was the one that started to make this series interesting. Both netminders played a solid game, but the Predators actually controlled the shots 32–31. The 5-on-5 play was fairly even in this game, but Nedeljkovic played a very good game. The special teams are what did this game in for the Predators, which will be a theme. The Hurricanes went 1–3 on the powerplay, but the real killer is Nashville's 0–7 powerplay. They have to convert on one of those, and I think if they do this game may have gone their way. An empty-net goal from Sebastian Aho in the last minute gave the Canes a 2–0 lead, and another goal from Foegele that got past Saros with about 30 seconds left sealed the deal to make it a 3–0 win, and 2–0 series lead.
Game 3 was a thriller. Yes, it was a 5–5 game that went deep into double OT. Yes, the shots were 56–54. It was a high-flying, hard-hitting game. Once again, the powerplays were 7–3 in the Predators' favour. This time, each team scored one powerplay goal. You would like to think that if the Predators' powerplay could score more consistently they may have stolen this series. After a long showdown between two talented, young netminders, Matt Duchene scored a beauty of a goal to cut the Hurricanes series lead in half. This game would start a theme of overtimes in this series.
Game 4 was an even better performance from Juuse Saros. The Hurricanes stayed more disciplined in this one, as the penalties favoured them in this one 4–2. That is something that I’m sure wasn’t caused by Rod Brind’ Amour’s complaining about the calls after game 3. However, the Predators were the better team when it came to the special teams in this one. They went 1–2 on the powerplay and they killed off every penalty. This one went into another overtime with a 3–3 tie, with the shots being 44–26 in regulation for Carolina. Saros really didn’t want to let Smashville down with this one. This game went into double overtime, and the final shots were 61–43 in this one. Yes, even 26:10 minutes after the 3rd period had ended the Predators still didn’t have as many shots as Carolina had in regulation. But it would be Luke Kunin who ended this game, tying the series at 2 heading back to Raleigh.
Game 5 was even more proof that the Predators could keep up with the first seeded Hurricanes. However, it was once again their special teams that caused them to lose this game in my eyes. Nashville would go 0–3 on the powerplay but allowed a goal on just two attempts of the penalty kill. Martin Necas and Yakov Trenin were the only goal scorers through regulation, and these teams went to another overtime tied 2–2. This one didn’t take very long to end, as it only took 2 minutes for Jordan Staal to light up the PNC Arena and give the Hurricanes a 3–2 series lead with a 3–2 win. The shots in this one were 37–22 in favour of the Hurricanes.
Going into game 6, each team had only won at home. If that kept up, we would see an entertaining game 7 in Raleigh. At one point in this game, it looked like the Predators were going to be able to force that game 7. Halfway through the second period, Nashville had a 3–1 lead on home ice. Surely they won’t blow this one. After letting up yet another powerplay goal, the Predators had a one-goal lead heading into the third period. Dougie Hamilton thought otherwise, tying the game in the back half of the third period. You knew this is how this was going to go, overtime time baby. You thought that Staal’s goal two minutes into overtime was fast? Watch Aho double that time. He ended this game only a minute into overtime, ending Nashville’s season and sending his team to the second round with a 4–3 win.
You can’t ask for much more from Aho. He proved himself to be a playoff performer last season, and this year he has looked to be much of the same. Being over a point per game against Saros with how he played in this series is impressive, and you can’t take that away from Aho. He played solid defensively as well, and I can’t wait to see him matched up against Point or Cirelli in the second round. Dougie Hamilton, as well as the rest of the Hurricanes' defensive core, all played well this series. Hamilton, Slavin, and Pesce all looked solid here. Brock McGinn just is a playoff performer now, isn't he? He scored the overtime series winner in game 7 against Washington in 2019, and 4 points in 6 games are just not what I expected from him considering his role on this team. I really expected the Hurricanes to start Mrazek in this series, but they decided to go with Nedeljkovic instead, and they made the right choice. I think Tampa Bay will be the true test for him, but win or lose, if he plays well in that series I trust him as a full-time NHL starter. As you can tell, I’m not quick to call a rookie goalie a starter.
Mikael Granlund has been better for Nashville this season compared to last year, but I’m still not sure if he comes back next season or not. I don’t know if he’s going to look like himself from 2016–2018 again, but I’m not going to write that in stone until he gets a shot on another team, if that’s his choice this offseason. Josi was a tad disappointing for me. He wasn’t bad at all offensively, but in his own zone, I think that he could’ve brought more to the table. Saros had to make a lot of tough saves, and I think that Nashville defensive unit as a whole could’ve helped some more with that. Filip Forsberg looked so good in the first 3 games of this series, and he just dropped off after that. If he was able to perform in the last couple of games in the series, maybe the games don’t even make it to overtime. Saros is the real deal. One young Finnish netminder who learned under the best Finnish goalie of all time seems like a key to success to me, and looking at how Saros has played this season I think I’m right.
It’s not hard to tell what happened here. We saw Saros try his hardest to carry the Predators to the second round, but he just couldn’t do it on his own. That isn’t on him. The Predators didn’t have enough offence, despite being able to force 4 overtimes in six games. I don’t think that many people expected Nashville to make this such a fun series, but they did, and I thank them for that. This one sets up a fantastic series between Carolina and Tampa Bay, and I think that that will have the chance to be the best series of the playoffs. We’ll have to wait and see. Nashville will have some changes to make in the offseason, but this is just the start of a promising run for Carolina.