do every season.<\/a><\/span> They have one of the sharpest constructed rosters in the NHL, with a front office that actually listens to their analytic guys instead of locking them in a closet and only trotting them out to make sure they spelled their names correctly on the website. They find undervalued players, they play an up-tempo system, they try to fill the bottom of the roster with yet more guys who are fast and can play with some skill. In one sense, they do just about everything right. <\/p>\nBut in another, they still can’t get it together, and that’s providing a sharpness to either end of the ice. They’re short on genuine first-line scorers outside of Sebastien Aho, with the thinking being that if they pack their forwards with just second- and third-liners their depth will carry the day. And yet when faced with a world-class goalie, the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin this time, it became clear that the Canes didn’t have anyone to pull something from nothing. <\/p>\n
And the Canes’ biggest flaw is that they have refused to heavily invest in the net, either. In today’s NHL, you need it all, as the Lightning seem intent on proving to people who won’t pay attention. Carolina thought it had outsmarted everyone last summer by eschewing both goalies from last year, including shipping off impressive rookie Alex Nedeljkovic, and trying to be economical with Freddie Andersen and Antti Raanta. <\/p>\n
And sure, Andersen never suited up in these playoffs, leaving everything on Raanta. But if the Canes find themselves pining for what Andersen might have done in the playoffs they would be the first team in history to do so. <\/p>\n
So when the autopsy is done on this Carolina team, the big question will be \u201cwhy couldn’t they win a road game? “ Well, that’s a different answer in each series. In the first round, they couldn’t match up Jordan Staal against Patrice Bergeron in Boston, and Bergeron’s line ran wild. That happens, as Bergeron’s line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak have been kicking opponents’ balls off for years. <\/p>\n
Against the Rangers, the Canes didn’t really do much wrong, pretty much dooming the Rangers throughout all seven games at even-strength. In only two games did the Canes not have the majority of attempts or expected goals in the series at 5-on-5, and those were the first two which they won anyway. <\/p>\n
The only crack the Canes showed was being dumb, and continually heading to the box against a power-play they couldn’t stop. The Canes were the most penalized team in the league, but didn’t think much of it as they also had the best penalty kill in the league in the regular season. But that only goes so far against a team like the Rangers, who are in some ways the complete opposite of the Canes. They’re only sharp ends. They have one big scoring line, maybe the best goalie in the league, and pretty much nothing in the middle. <\/p>\n
So giving Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad space on the power-play against your middling goalie, when you can’t hope to match special teams’ production thanks to your<\/em> anemic power-play and the MVP in the other net, was the exact prescription to get dumped out on their ass. Which is where the Canes find themselves. <\/p>\nIt’s the fourth excellent season the Canes will have upchucked, not having won a game beyond the second round in any of them. As always, they keep careening into the postseason with a goalie who can’t make the big save nor a forward who can reach into the fire to retrieve their hopes. It doesn’t matter how much roadwork you do if you can’t land or block a punch, as the Canes keep finding out and yet seem determined to ignore. <\/p>\n
As for the Rangers, they aren’t likely to get a look at a backup or worse goalie in the next round, and in fact they’ll get one with two rings plugging his ears. They’ll see a bevy of scorers. We’ll see if they can injure and power-play their way through this test, which is more likely to end up in a ritual killing. <\/p>\n
Jesus Sanchez just killed a baseball <\/h2>\n
Let’s end on Jesus Sanchez hitting a ball to Mars. <\/p>\n