RALEIGH — The NHL regular season didn’t end until Thursday, but the Hurricanes have known for some time who they would be facing in the first round of the playoffs.
For the second time in three seasons, Carolina will meet the New Jersey Devils in the postseason. While the NHL’s schedule for the opening games of the playoffs hasn’t been released, the Hurricanes will have home ice in the series and host its first two games at Lenovo Center.
About this season
The teams split the season series this year, with both teams winning their two games at home. Carolina and New Jersey, however, haven’t played since Dec. 28, a 5-2 Hurricanes win.
Carolina started three different goalies against the Devils this season, but none were by Frederik Andersen, who has the inside track to be the team’s top goalie in the postseason. Andersen is 7-2-0 with a .934 save percentage and 2.11 goals-against average in the regular season against New Jersey in his career, and he also won all four of his starts in Carolina’s five-game defeat of the Devils in the second round of the 2023 playoffs.
Jack Roslovic led all Hurricanes players with three goals and five points in the four-game series this season, and Seth Jarvis had a goal and three assists in three games vs. the Devils.
For New Jersey, Jesper Bratt had two goals and seven points in the season series, and Jack Hughes finished with a goal and six points. Hughes, however, is out for the season with an injury and will not be available.
Jacob Markstrom started three of the four games against the Hurricanes, winning two while posting a .916 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average. He is 9-5-1 in his career vs. Carolina with a .922 save percentage and 2.36 goals-against average.
Familiar faces
The Hurricanes will face several former teammates in the series. Dougie Hamilton and Erik Haula are joined by offseason signees Brett Pesce and Stefan Noesen. The quartet played a combined 1,013 regular season games with Carolina, led by the drafted-and-developed Pesce’s 627.
Haula, who has played the villain whenever he comes to Raleigh since being traded away by the Hurricanes in 2020, has won just once in 19 regular season and playoff games at Lenovo Center since his departure.
New Jersey also traded for defenseman Brian Dumoulin before the trade deadline — the rights to Dumoulin, who the Hurricanes drafted in the second round of the 2009 NHL Draft, were traded to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2012 in the deal that brought current Carolina captain Jordan Staal to Raleigh.
Taylor Hall, who won the Hart Trophy with the Devils in 2018, joined the Hurricanes in late January and seems revitalized by returning to meaningful games.
Tale of two injury reports
The Devils are without their biggest star in Hughes, shutdown defender Jonas Siegenthaler hasn’t played since early February, and there are also questions surrounding Hamilton, who hasn’t suited up in more than a month.
The Hurricanes, on the other hand, are getting healthy at the right time. William Carrier, who missed more than three months, returned to the lineup Saturday. Jesperi Kotkaniemi was expected to play in the final two games of the regular season, and Carolina has had the option to rest players with their playoff fate long decided.
Shayne Gostisbehere could be a question mark with a lower back injury, but the future of Carolina’s defense is here, with Scott Morrow already filling in admirably and KHL superstar Alexander Nikishin navigating the immigration system and en route to join the team.
Special teams
It will be strength on strength when the Devils’ power play faces Carolina’s penalty kill.
New Jersey ranks third in the league on the man advantage heading into the final two games of the season, though it is stumbling a bit heading into the playoffs with two goals in 13 opportunities over the previous seven games.
The Hurricanes are again No. 1 on the PK, killing off 84.1% of chances in what has become an annual coronation as the league’s best unit since Rod Brind’Amour took over.
Carolina’s power play hasn’t been as consistent and ranks 25th in the league at 18.6%. A recent stretch of five straight games with a power play goal was followed by five without, but the Hurricanes did manage to get back in the goal column Sunday against Toronto.
The Devils’ penalty kill is also good, ranking third at 82.2%, giving New Jersey arguably the best special teams in hockey under first-year coach Sheldon Keefe.
X-factor
The series could very well be decided by goaltending. Both Markstrom and Andersen have had their ups and downs in the postseason, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of Pyotr Kochetkov and Jake Allen at some point in the series.
If it’s not the goalies, it will probably be the defenses. The Devils are banged up, while Carolina hasn’t been as reliable as in past seasons. If Hamilton or Luke Hughes can dominate offensively, the Hurricanes could be in trouble, but Carolina always has an ace up its sleeve in Jaccob Slavin — expect him to elevate his game as he did in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Prediction
The Devils have too many key injuries, and the Hurricanes’ 31 home wins are tops in the Eastern Conference. Carolina probably won’t need the full seven games to use its home-ice advantage fully, but that coupled with New Jersey’s pedestrian home record is a recipe that’s appetizing for the Hurricanes.
Carolina dispatches the dinged-up Devils in five.
