Hurricanes-Devils Outlook
By Judd Hall
No. 3 New Jersey Devils vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes
Series Price: New Jersey -140, Carolina +120
Series Format: New Jersey, 2-2-1-1-1
Skinny: Carolina looked like it was set for another season of mediocrity after winning the Stanley Cup back in 2006 in opening the season 12-11-2. The Hurricanes decided that they had enough of it and made the change by bringing Paul Maurice in to replace his original ouster, Peter Laviolette.
The decision to bring back Maurice has proved to be a wise one as the ‘Canes are 33-19-5 with the coach that too them to their first Stanley Cup Final in 2002. And they’ve gone 17-5-2 since Feb. 19.
How did a team that barely did well enough to win three straight games turn into a club that could win it all? They’re getting offensive production from all spots on the roster and the goaltending has been spot on.
The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 92-55 since really starting their run on Feb. 19. Carolina has also been more accurate on its special teams play with a 20.5 percent conversion rate since the coach change happened; the ‘Canes were connecting on 12.9 percent of their power plays with Laviolette running the show.
Carolina will no doubt be looking for Eric Staal to keep melting the ice as he scored 26 points since March 3. And he’s lit the lamp six times in April alone. Staal has also benefitted from Erik Cole coming back from Edmonton at the trade deadline. The chemistry that Cole had with his old teammate has been evident almost immediately as he’s tallied 13 assists in 17 appearances in a Hurricanes sweater.
All that scoring would go for naught if it weren’t for a quality backstop. And luckily the ‘Canes have such a goaltender in Cam Ward. The 2006 Conn Smythe Award winner has seemingly found that touch that helped Carolina take home the Cup three years ago, going 13-2-2 with a goals against average of 2.04 since beginning of March.
New Jersey’s season looked like it was going to be in the dumps after Martin Brodeur went down with a torn bicep tendon. I know I thought they were done for with a guy like Kevin Weekes sitting between the pipes. And compounding matters for me was the fact that the Devils aren’t exactly known for scoring the goals with regularity.
Those misconceptions flew out the window with the emergence of Scott Clemmensen as a reliable No. 2 goalie after he went 25-13-1 with a 2.39 GAA this year. And the Devs know they won’t have to worry about bumping him back down to the AHL again this season since Weekes after hurting his left knee on April 5.
As great as it is to have Clemmensen on the bench, the fans are much happier to have Brodeur back in the fold. Brodeur surged out of the gates with nine wins in his first 10 starts after returning from his injury. But he stumbled badly down the stretch, winning just four of his last 11 appearances. To be fair though, Brodeur did win those four tilts in his last five starts.
The Devils also produced a lot more offensively than they have in the past, compiling 238 goals during the regular season. New Jersey had just 198 scores during the 2007-08 campaign.
A lot of the Devs’ success on offense has come in part because of Zach Parise after finishing third in the NHL with 45 lamp lighters and fifth in overall scoring with 94 points. Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner also had a great season by scoring 31 and 29 goals respectively.
Gambling Notes: It’s safe to say that these two clubs have a strong working knowledge of one another since they’ve played three times since the middle of last month. While the ‘Canes won the first three meetings, but fell in the season finale on April 11. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Carolina didn’t care about that game since they couldn’t move up in the standings with a win and they sat Cam Ward in preparation of the playoffs.
These two clubs played extremely tough the other’s divisions. New Jersey is 13-7 against Southeast Division competition and the Hurricanes are 12-5-3 when playing Atlantic Division foes.
Keep a very close eye on low totals for this series as the ‘under’ is 5-1 in the last six road contests for Carolina and 5-1 in the Devils’ past six fixtures at the Prudential Center.
Outlook: This series is really too close to call. Both teams have potent offense and they both have great defenses and goaltending.
If I were to give an edge to the Devils in any one spot, I’d say the blue line. However, Carolina gets a lot more out of its defensemen on the attack.
I’m going to take the Hurricanes to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in six games.
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