The Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils advanced past Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and are set to collide in Round 2. Carolina took down the New York Islanders in six games in the opening round, while the Devils snuck by the New York Rangers in seven. These Metropolitan Division rivals finished the regular season extremely close together, which is highlighted in the very tight series spread.
Odds courtesy of the FanDuel Sportsbook.
Carolina Hurricanes (+102) vs. New Jersey Devils (-124)Hurricanes
The Hurricanes are an interesting team to follow heading into the second round of the playoffs. They’ve remained one of the best defensive teams in the NHL, but the elephant in the room revolves around the injury concerns they have up front. Offense hasn’t always come easy for the team, which means some star players being out up front hurts.
Still, the Hurricanes are a team that grinds you down, and they love to win a 2-1 or 3-2 type hockey game. Even with the injury concerns, Carolina plays such a solid team game under head coach Rod Brind’Amour that it’s impossible to count them out this series, especially against a relatively inexperienced Devils squad. Even though New Jersey has some strong offensive players, Carolina will make life difficult on them with their strong forechecking and heavy attention to detail brand of hockey.
Devils
Even with a lot of inexperience, that didn’t stop the New Jersey Devils from putting together an impressive first-round series win over the New York Rangers, especially after they fell behind 2-0 at home.
A big change in that opening-round series revolved around the Devils goaltending switch, with Akira Schmid coming onto the scene and putting together some stellar numbers. In five starts against the Rangers, Schmid posted an absurd .951 save percentage. As if the Hurricanes didn’t have enough trouble scoring goals, if Schmid can continue this pace, the Devils will have difficulty not advancing.
New Jersey is listed as favorites in this series despite not having home-ice advantage, and a big reason for that is the emergence of Schmid, in addition to some injuries the Hurricanes face on offense. In saying that, we’re not discounting the talent on this Devils roster, knowing very well they can score with some of the top teams in this league.
Verdict
The question that must be answered in this series is whether or not the Hurricanes can score enough to get past the Devils. New Jersey is also comfortable playing in lower-scoring games, even with their offensive potential. Even though we appreciate what the Devils are building, the Hurricanes have such a team persona about them that makes it hard to bet against them, especially as underdogs. New Jersey will be a team to watch moving forward, but the Hurricanes’ relentless style of play will ultimately be too difficult for the Devils to handle in this series.
Best Bet: Hurricanes to Win Series (+102)
