Andersen's heroics and a dominant second line fuel Carolina's early success. Discover the key factors behind their 2-0 series lead.
The Carolina Hurricanes are up 2-0 in their first-round series against the Ottawa Senators.
As the series shifts back to Canada, here are the things which have been going right for Carolina so far this postseason.
Frederik Andersen
The Carolina Hurricanes netminder leads all goaltenders this postseason in save percentage, with a 0.967 in two games played.
The veteran netminder has turned aside 59 of the 61 shots he's faced (the fifth most amongst all playoff goaltenders) and he's also second in goals saved above expected.
While many people doubted Andersen's potential heading into the playoffs due to weaker regular season numbers, historically, this is what he does.
Since coming to Carolina, Andersen has a 0.935 save percentage in the first round of the playoffs. For his career, he has a 0.921 save percentage in first-round series.
The Danish goalie has been lights out for the Hurricanes and he'll have to continue to stand tall as the Senators will certainly be fired up at home.
Second Line
The Carolina Hurricanes' second line trio of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Taylor Hall have continued their season-long dominant play into the postseason, where they've been one of the best lines in the series.
Each of the three currently each have three points in two games (Stankoven leading the way in goals with two) and they've dominated possession with a 39-21 edge in chances, 23-11 edge in scoring chances, 12-4 edge in high-danger chances and a expected goals for percentage of 76.43%.
This has also come with Ottawa almost exclusively matching up their best shutdown line against them.
There have been some tough mistakes from the three, as turnovers have started to creep in a bit , and Stankoven, like most of the team, has struggled in the faceoff dot, winning just 37% of his draws, although he hasn't been the worst centerman in that regard (somehow).
But when they have the puck in the zone, they're giving Ottawa hell.
Especially with the top line still searching for their first points, the second line coming through like they have has been huge.
Special Teams
The Hurricanes have looked much more like themselves on the PK in this series.
Despite the Senators entering the series with a top-8 power play, the Canes have been terrific at shutting them down, allowing just five shots on seven separate kills.
The team has been digging in big time on the kill, whether it's blocking shots, getting in lanes or forcing turnovers and while it might not officially be the case, the Hurricanes are pretty much outscoring Ottawa 1-0 while shorthanded as Sebastian Aho scored on a shorthanded rush just one second after a penalty expired.
On the flip side, the Canes have to be feeling fairly confident in their power play.
While it went 0 for 5 in Game 1, they still had a lot of grade-A chances and it got better as the game went on.
Then in Game 2, Stankoven cashed in on the only power play the team was given.
Carolina, who had a top-4 power play this season, would certainly hope for a few more calls to come their way, especially when you see how many penalties are being called across the league.
Physicality
People always think that their teams will be able to push around the Hurricanes when the postseason hits and that's hardly ever the case.
Take this series for example. Ottawa is the biggest team in the league, yet Carolina has actually outhit them 100-91.
Carolina has quite a few big boys on their roster (Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov, William Carrier to name a few) and the rest of the lineup isn't afraid to throw or take a hit either.
There's a definite willingness to go to the net front and the corners and that's really what sets apart a team.
You don't necessarily have to hit to be tough, but the Hurricanes haven't been afraid to ramp up that element of their game.
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