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Eastern Conference Quarterfinal

Game 2

Carolina -½ +145 over Boston

7:00 PM EST. Regulation only. While we have the Hurricanes to win this series, that is not going to stop us from jumping in here. Please know that we are not playing results or piling on because of the ‘Canes 5-1 win in Game 1, rather we are reacting to what we saw, which was the Bruins totally outplaying Carolina for most of the contest, but could not overcome a shaky goaltending performance from surprise starter Linus Ullmark. When Boston coach Bruce Cassidy over-thought things and decided to go with the lifetime backup in Ullmark, he really put himself behind the 8-ball. Where does Coach Cassidy go now?

That was a rhetorical question, of course, because Cassidy is going to double down on his poor decision and stick with Ullmark. Shocking. What does that say to the Bruins who played their asses off Monday night? How about the baby-faced goaltender in waiting, Jeremy Swayman. We suggested in our series write-up that the young goalie might be tough against the Hurricanes. There is no denying that we expected to see Ullmark before this series was over, but to start with him? That was not a consideration.

One has to expect the Hurricanes to play better tonight. They can’t play much worse than they did in Game 1, especially in the first half of the game. The hero, Antti Raanta, made 35 saves, including turning away all 11 high danger scoring chances the B’s threw at him. In four games now, including the regular season, the ‘Canes have outscored the Bruins to the tune of 21-2. The Bruins have been in those games too. At what point does Boston just shake its heads and tip its hats? Is it after the first weak goal the Hurricanes inevitably put past Ullmark? The second? Third? Look at Ullmark’s career numbers against Boston and you’ll see some of the ugliest numbers imaginable. Ullmark is scared shit of this opponent.

When you have a goalie that your team cannot trust, it affects the way they play the game. Your defensemen are forced to play back on their heels, while your forwards must also get back either by design or just because they know they are hooped if the other team gets into the offensive zone. Each time Ullmark lets in a stinker, it’s demoralizing. Even if you play beer league hockey on Monday nights, you know what it feels like when you’ve got the inferior goalie. It pisses you off. How do you think the Bruins feel with their best option working the gate?

We would not be making this wager if we did not expect the Hurricanes to be much, much better in Game 2. They are superior in every way, but could not get out of the starting blocks in Game 1. The ‘Canes got away with one and they know it, thus a strong and aggressive start is what we’ll anticipate. With the first game jitters out of the way and the knowledge that they can trust Raanta to get the job done, Carolina and its powerful analytics regarding puck possession time, high danger chances, and everything else figure to be much better here than it was in Game 1. For Boston, that’s another big problem to raise their big problem count to two.