Playoff Notebook: Off To A Good Start

RALEIGH, NC. -Only

The overall sentiment from the head coach was that last night went largely as expected, but he thinks his group is capable of more.
"I didn't think we were great, but at times we were. And at times they were," Brind'Amour said of the group's overall game. "That's kind of how I think it's going to go. At times you're going to play well and at times you're going to have to weather the storm. That's basically what happened. That's probably how this series is going to go."
Praising the work of Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 35 out of 37, Carolina's bench boss said that the team's offense will have to continue to generate a multitude of chances to score.
"It's obvious, he's one of the best in the league. If he sees it, he saves it. It's our job to make it hard that way," Brind'Amour shared.

In Goal

Speaking of goalies, Brind'Amour was also asked if the team would continue alternating between Antti Raanta and Frederik Andersen, the plan that they'd carried out for the bulk of the regular season.
"Possibly. Rants played really well, but we also know he hasn't played a ton of games in a row, so we're going to have to be mindful of that moving forward," the coach said of the subject.
Raanta was strong on Monday evening, stopping 25 out of 26 in the series-opening victory. The only puck that got behind him came following an individual gaffe, one that he bounced back from quickly as he locked things down for the final 37 minutes.
To Brind'Amour's point though, the 33-year-old Finn only started consecutive games on one occasion this season. Starting five games in a row from December 22 - January 1, when Andersen was hurt and Pyotr Kochetkov was also mildly banged up, Raanta earned victories over Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Florida, and New Jersey. However, following his next start, January 7 in Columbus, he missed nearly three weeks due to an injury.
With Wednesday's Game Two also taking place at PNC Arena, one thing that Raanta has going for him is that the netminder is now 7-0-1 with a .958 save percentage on home ice during postseason play as a member of the Canes. The regular season included, his last regulation loss in Raleigh was April 14, 2022.
How Brind'Amour, Goaltending Coach Paul Schonfelder, and staff handle the team's workload in net will remain to be an interesting plot in this series.

Special Teams

Brett Pesce and Seth Jarvis, both integral members of Carolina's special teams, also took to the podium on Tuesday to discuss their thoughts on Monday's win.
Pesce, a part of the 4/4 penalty kill, stressed how his experience in playoff hockey has taught him the value of special teams at this time of year.
"You need a good power play and penalty kill in the playoffs," the defenseman offered. "You really realize that when you play a few playoff years that that's make or break for teams. So we have to be dialed in on both sides."
Jarvis, arguably Carolina's best player during the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, touched on the importance of the early power-play goal and their success on the evening as a whole.
"To score (on the man advantage) is big, not only for our unit but for our team in general," the 21-year-old said. "We have always had that kind of confidence in ourselves. We have great players on our unit and we knew that it was bound to happen. For it to happen early like it did, being able to capitalize twice and ultimately be the result in winning the game on the power play is something huge for our confidence."

Up Next

Game Two in the series takes place Wednesday night at PNC Arena, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
Tickets can be found here
and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South as well as ESPN2.
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