Hurricanes’ X-factor in East Final vs. Canadiens

The Carolina Hurricanes have to feel good about what they have accomplished to this point in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They took care of business against the Ottawa Senators in four straight games in the opening round. The followed that up with another sweep in the second round against the Philadelphia Flyers.

As sharp as the Hurricanes have been, they have at least a couple of concerns going into the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens. They finished off their sweep of the Flyers with a May 9 overtime victory and they will have been off for 12 days when they take the ice Thursday against the Habs. No NHL team has ever had that much rest between opponents in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

There is no reason to expect full-fledged rust when Game 1 gets underway, but it is unlikely that the Hurricanes will have their timing down — especially in the first half of the game. The likelihood is that there will be a number of missed passes and fumbled pucks. The Hurricanes are often a team that depends on precise timing and they may not have it for a while.

The other issue is that head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes have never gotten past the third round of the playoffs. No matter how well they have played to this point in the season, Brind’Amour and his players know that they have been stopped at this point in the postseason. They have been defeated in the Conference Final in two of the past three years.

The Hurricanes have been getting a huge contribution form Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven on the team’s second line. These three have been Carolina’s three leading scorers in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Second line has dominated for Hurricanes

Hall has picked up his game considerably this season and he has 3 goals and 9 assists for 12 points in the postseason. Blake has 4 goals and 7 assists while Stankoven has delivered 7 goals and 1 assist.

These 3 have played with amazing timing and rhythm and they have outperformed Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov on the top line.

Brind’Amour needs his second line to continue its share of the heavy lifting and it would be nice in Aho’s group would step forward in its production. This unit needs to step up considerably as Jarvis and Aho have scored 4 points while Svechnikov has been held to 3.

Martinook could be an X-factor for the Hurricanes

The Canes will need a significant contribution from an unexpected source if they are going to get to the next level. It’s not just the stars or the team’s key point producers in the postseason who have to step up. An unexpected source will need to come to the surface if Carolina is finally going to find its way to the Stanley Cup Final.

The belief here is that Jordan Martinook has a chance to become that X-factor. He is the left wing on the team’s third line and while he has not been a key contributor when it comes to postseason points — he has 1 goal and 2 assists — there is much more to his game. Martinook skates well, has a good understanding of what to do on the defensive end and that could lead to scoring opportunities on the offensive end.

Martinook had a very solid performance in the 2023 postseason when he recorded 12 points in 15 postseason games. That’s the kind of performance he could deliver in the third round against the Habs.

Martinook scored 12 goals and 17 assists this season for the Hurricanes, and 3 of his goals came while Carolina was shorthanded.

He is bound to see quite a bit of action when the Canadiens are on the power play. His main responsibility will be to keep that man advantage from producing key goals, but if he could score a shorthanded goal at a key point, it could turn the series in Carolina’s favor.

Miller could do quite a bit of damage from the blue line