OK ... Canes/Kitties. Fun. South(l)east Division forever, baby.
So, what did we learn from the season series? Not a heck of a lot. The two teams opened the series by trading lackluster shutouts (one by Knight, one by Raanta near the end of that December heater he was on) and then played an absolute wild one in the last game of the regular season. Carolina grabbed a 4-2 lead in the middle of the 3rd but when Mo pulled the goalie the whole thing went pear shaped. The Canes ended up with two empty netters and and the Panthers scored two of their own. Feisty, weird game.
Since then both teams have made some changes. Carolina's have been basically setting up two checking lines to support Aho's first unit while Florida went with the Maurice classic move of balancing a skater and a coat rack throughout the defensive pairings. The challenge with Florida when they're going is well is always matching up the Barkov line. He so good defensively that you can get away with best on best matchups even with offense only guys like Verhaeghe and Duclair on his wings. Carolina's probably going to start off with Staal on Barkov which will challenge Kotkaniemi's crew to handle Bennett and Tkachuk. Their 3rd line is a defensive minded as well, so this is a pretty interesting matchup situation for both coaches. Carolina's balance on D is their big advantage on paper, so you can look for the Canes forwards to pick on the slower of the Florida pairs and try to make the other D cover and get them out of shape. Toronto had some luck with this, but were way too trigger happy when they got seams in the mid-range. Carolina doesn't have the big shooters, so they'll be more patient ... because they have to be. Florida's big challenge in the first two rounds was slowing down the other team's rush. This Carolina team is a WHOLE different kettle of fish for them.
