Hurricanes’ Impressive Shot Suppression Continues to Lead to Success – The Hockey Writers – Carolina Hurricanes

If I told you that the Carolina Hurricanes have given up an average of 15 shots per game through the first three games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens, you’d think I was insane. Truth is stranger than fiction, and here we are. Carolina has allowed just 47 shots against Frederik Andersen in a series that’s had two overtime periods, and that includes a 6-2 drubbing in Game 1 as the Hurricanes came off a long layoff.

Carolina’s system is remarkable for its defensive consistency, combined with the Hurricanes’ aggressive harassment of the puck carrier. They’re suffocating because you do not get time to think or space to breathe. For the Canadiens, they have figured that out the hard way after a simple first period of the series let them jump out to a 4-1 lead that they never relinquished. The Hurricanes have just shut down the Canadiens. In the 10 periods of hockey since, the Canadiens have scored six goals.

Top Defensive Redemption

A lot was made of the struggles that Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin had in the first game of this series. He laid one of the largest eggs of his career, and he owned that. He has never been one to shy away from a challenge, and he responded by giving us two games of that trademarked brand of hockey Slavin plays. Nothing gets by his stick; he’ll be clever with his positioning, he’s poised with the puck, and he’s just a general pain for the opposition. He’s playing like a man after redemption.

However, that dismantlement of Slavin in Game 1 gave the Hurricanes a reminder that it can’t always be on him. The Hurricanes remain one of the deepest teams in the NHL, and the defensive core in Raleigh is always among the best in the league. All six of the starters are in the top four at worst on almost every other team in the league. That seems to have reminded them that while Slavin is an incredible player, he’s not the only one who can play at a high level.

The other five guys have responded by getting in the way of anything and everything. In this series alone, the Hurricanes have gotten eight blocked shots from Slavin, eight more from Sean Walker, and Jackson Blake and Jalen Chatfield have blocked six. Carolina has done an excellent job preventing pucks from reaching Andersen, which makes his life much easier. If Andersen isn’t facing shots, Montreal is not going to score.

Lightening the Goaltending Workload

Carolina hasn’t just blocked shots; nothing has gotten through to Andersen. As I said, he’s seen just 47 shots this entire series. For reference, in Game 3, the Hurricanes had 38 shots on their own. They’ve just put a muzzle on the Canadiens ‘ offense. What that means is that Andersen, who has been lights out for Carolina this postseason, isn’t being overworked. Andersen has tired in years past when the Hurricanes have gotten to this point, but they’ve been protecting him so well this postseason that he’s not seeing anything.

It does mean that when he does face two “Grade A” chances and they both go in, his save percentage tanks, but that’s part of the system. Carolina’s defensemen will eat the pucks coming from low-danger chances. It means Andersen’s rebound control is not tested as often as Montreal would like. For a young team like the Canadiens, that is going to frustrate them. Even when they get into the offensive zone, they’re not seeing the shot counter increase. They’re not testing Carolina’s netminding.

Zone Time Domination

According to NHL EDGE, no team has spent more time in the offensive zone or less in the defensive zone than the Hurricanes. They epitomize “the best defense is a good offense”. The Canadiens are not going to score when they’re having to stop pucks from getting on their goal. It’s the same thing that both the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers struggled to overcome when playing against this Carolina machine. If they shot from their own end, it should never go in the net.

The Hurricanes spend 46.8% of their time in the offensive zone. If they’re spending half the game forcing the other team to defend their net, they’re not going to get anywhere near Andersen. One knock-on effect is that they are the best defensive-zone team in the league, spending just 35.2% of their ice time in their own zone. It means that Carolina forces opponents to chase the game by holding the puck in the offensive zone, which is incredibly dangerous when the game is in the balance.

End Product

What does this all add up to? Well, the fewest shots by a team that went to overtime in a playoff game before this series started was the 1978 Chicago Black Hawks. Yes, that was so long ago that the team name was two words. They had 12. In Game 2, the Canadiens tied the record with just 12 shots. In Game 3, they improved to 13. That’s a historic level of struggle to get the puck on net from Montreal, and it could very realistically be their downfall.

Have the Canadiens been great offensively, taking every shooting opportunity? No, they have turned down a few shots perhaps they should not have, with the benefit of hindsight. With that said, the Hurricanes have not given them anything. Carolina is trying to shut the door on the Canadiens’ offense, and they’ve done an excellent job of restricting them. If that continues, the Hurricanes may reach a greater height than they ever have under Rod Brind’Amour. Can they sustain it? Well, that’s up to the players on the ice. We’ll have to find out.