Year after year, the Carolina Hurricanes special teams have bottomed out in the postseason.
Whether it's their own power play going dormant or their PK being torn apart, special teams failure has almost always been the case for their untimely exit.
One game into their second round series against the New York Rangers, that same fate is threatening them again.
The Canes went a combined 0% on special teams Sunday evening at MSG with their power play going 0-for-5 and the penalty kill going 0-for-2.
And not only did the Rangers score on both of their power play opportunities, they did it in just 23 seconds of game time
It took them nine seconds to set up Mika Zibanejad following Tony DeAngelo's "roughing" penalty with Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider both sending perfect, no-look backhand passes.
Then it took just 14 seconds for Trocheck to find the back of the net after the entire penalty kill unit collapsed in on itself with everyone reaching and nobody coming up with anything.
It's crazy too because all four PKers collapse on Trocheck, but then he's unimpeded to put home a loose puck.
"Obviously they have some great players," said Jordan Staal when asked about New York's power play. "I think our kill is predicated on pressure and they have to make three or four good passes to get a grade-A and they did. It was pretty evident that they made some good plays. We'll adjust and find ways to pressure more at the right times and right opportunities and make sure we do a better job."
Then the power play was just a complete non-factor.
The Canes managed just four total shots on five power play opportunities and lost five out of seven PP draws. In total, they only had eight shot attempts, which just isn't good enough.
The Rangers played a strong game, blocking 28 shots over the course of the game, but if you're Carolina, you have to get more shots through.
You can't score if you don't shoot.
"It's clear that our start and our special teams were the difference tonight and we've always talked about that all year long," Staal said. "Special teams, if you win that battle, you have a really good chance of winning and we didn't tonight. Both of them weren't good enough obviously. The PK's got to be better and the power play has to be better."
Despite the abysmal special teams night though, the Hurricanes still had a chance to take the game.
The two teams were fairly even at 5v5 if not Carolina having the slight edge.
They had beaten Igor Shesterkin three times with a Jaccob Slavin deflected goal, a Martin Necas goal from in tight and a Seth Jarvis second effort goal.
They ended up losing by only a single goal, hit the post twice in the game, and had really started to turn the tides in the third period.
"I thought we played a pretty good game," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "A couple of kills we didn't quite execute right on and they did. They made their three quick passes and hit it and we were just a step off. That was the difference. It's tough because we played pretty hard and I thought overall, as the game went on, we got a little better. But that was the difference."
They had overcome a backbreaker goal given up by Frederik Andersen midway through the third period as Jarvis swept home a rebound on a 6-on-5 situation and Trocheck had followed that play up by committing a delay-of-game penalty.
But Andrei Svechnikov would get called for a trip on Ryan Lindgren as both players fought for a loose puck and that was pretty much all she wrote.
The Hurricanes have the talent and ability to beat the Rangers, but they have to play to that ability.
No leaving guys wide-open in the slot or losing multiple 50/50 puck battles in a row.
"We did a lot of good things in that game and especially at the end," said Sebastian Aho. "We got good pressure on them and obviously we got one goal back and the second one wasn't too far either. Just have to build on that."
That and Carolina's stars need to start showing up.
The Canes will try to even up the series with Game 2 at MSG on Tuesday, May 7 before heading home for Games 3 and 4.
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