When the NHL holds its postseason tournament, it’s supposed to be a grind for whatever teams can make it to late May and June.
But there has been nothing hectic or grueling about these Stanley Cup playoffs for the Carolina Hurricanes.
They’ve hardly had anything to do.
Across a period of more than a month, they’ve played eight games. Won them all, and that’s what has caused this spring inactivity.
They’ve waited more than a week to not only learn who they’ll play – either the Buffalo Sabres or Montreal Canadiens — in the Eastern Conference finals, but when they’ll play again.
There’s progress on that front because we know a date – Thursday night. When the Hurricanes return to the ice for Game 1 in Raleigh, N.C., it will be another case of the conversation revolving around the pros and cons of rust vs. rest.
This latest layoff for the Hurricanes at least comes with a point of reference – to some degree, they’ve already gone through this once this postseason, waiting a week between the opening round and the Eastern Conference semifinals. This gap in games will cover nearly two weeks.
So coach Rod Brind’Amour has leaned on that recent experience to get through the past week.
“We always say ‘sharpening the knife,’ ” Brind’Amour said. “We’ve got to keep razor sharp on what we do well.”
Not all has gone perfect for the Hurricanes in these playoffs. The first line has been rather inactive on the scoresheet, but that ought to be considered a blessing to go 8-0 and still wait on Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov to kick it into gear.
The goaltending part has gone better than any Hurricanes fan could have hoped for. Frederik Andersen has been splendid in tending to the crease for the entirety of Carolina’s postseason run so far.
He was pretty much a part-timer during the regular season, ringing up a 16-14-5 record as rookie Brandon Bussi made waves in the nets. But Brind’Amour went with the experience angle when choosing who to send out for the first game against the Ottawa Senators.
There hasn’t been a reason to make a change, so it has been Andersen all the time.
And given the reduced rate of games for the Hurricanes, the whole part-time job aspect might be right down Andersen’s alley.
For a team in the middle of the playoffs, some of the quotes from Carolina players sound like comments that might be heard in September on the dawn of a new season.
“I’m really excited to get going again,” captain Jordan Staal said.
As the Hurricanes have waited, one thing hasn’t changed from when the horn sounded on Game 4 in Philadelphia as the Hurricanes dismissed the Flyers into offseason vacation.
Carolina still needs to win eight more games to achieve its goal. So don’t worry, the grind will come.
