Mandatory Image Credit: Ben McKeown / AP Photo

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin tonight as the Philadelphia Flyers travel to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. Both teams got off to a 3-0 series lead in the first round, with the Canes closing things out in four, while the Flyers had a bit of a scare from the Penguins, but ultimately won the series in six. The Cam York stick toss after scoring the overtime winner to send Philly to round two was an iconic moment, unfortunately that will be the most the Flyers have to celebrate about this season, the Hurricanes are winning this series.

Now I talked a bit about Carolina’s sweep in my previous article, but just to reiterate, they dominated. Only allowing five goals all series, and never facing a deficit at any point through a four game sweep. Standouts included Logan Stankoven, with a goal in each game, a playoff riser as he had 5 goals in the postseason last year; Frederik Andersen, who was nearly unbeatable with a .955 SV% and 1.10 GAA; and Taylor Hall, the former Hart Trophy winner playing some of his best playoff hockey leading the team with seven points in the opening round.

Perhaps if the series went longer these players would have gotten on the scoresheet more (not that it mattered), but even after the sweep there are a few Hurricanes that can step up their game. After posting a career year, Andrei Svechnikov was held pointless in the first round, the big fish free agent signing Nikolaj Ehlers only had one point in three games (hurt but expected to be back for game one of this series), and Seth Jarvis has yet to find the back of the net. As the playoffs go on, Carolina will need their big guns to step up and deliver because it only gets harder from here.

Or… does it?

I mean no disrespect to the Flyers but they are clearly the underdog in this series. I picked them to win in round one, but it is hard to picture this team taking things any further. An incredible season nonetheless should they lose here, but they have their work cut out for them. Their leading scorer is none other than Rasmus Ristolainen, yes you are reading that right, with five points through six games. 

Porter Martone looked like he was going to have a statement series early on but his production dropped and he only finished the series with two goals and an assist. 

However, the strength of this team was not their ability to score (2.67 goals per game in round one), it was their ability to limit the other team’s ability to score (1.83 goals against per game in round one). Call it coaching, call it team defense, I call it Dan Vladar. The Czech netminder was nuts in their series against the Penguins, with a .937 SV%, a 1.61 GAA and two of his wins were shutouts. 

Both goalies are playing out of their minds right now, and I expect this series to feature some 2-1, and maybe even 1-0 games, so if you watched the Ducks and Oilers first round series and think that’s what you are getting, don’t get your hopes up. This will be tight, low scoring, stingy defense hockey, only a true fan loves this stuff.

I am not one to point towards the regular season series to make a point about who has the edge in a playoff series as they are a different beast. But I will make a point that each of their four meetings this season required extra time, one ending in overtime, and the other three in a shootout. There is no shootout in the playoffs so I expect this series to potentially feature the longest game of the entire playoffs. Who’s up for some quadruple overtime!?

I hate predicting a second round series to be a quick one, but I am leaning that way. The Hurricanes are on a mission and they are by far the more experienced team, and anything the Flyers can do, they can do better. Brind’Amour vs. Tocchet should be an exciting coaching battle.

I am looking for Svechnikov and Jarvis to get going in this series, despite the sweep, their combined two assists is a little disappointing so far. As for Flyers I have my eye on, I expect Travis Konecny to be a thorn in the Hurricanes side all series long, and will Dan Vladar be able to keep playing the way he’s playing, and steal a game or two? We shall see.

Prediction: Hurricanes in 5