The Carolina Hurricanes are rolling in the NHL playoffs. Next is another lengthy between-rounds rest
The Carolina Hurricanes have secured their long-sought shot at breaking through a familiar roadblock in the Eastern Conference final. Now the Hurricanes — the only undefeated team left in the NHL playoffs — are set for another a lengthy wait to get started in the third round. Carolina beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night, becoming the first team to sweep through the first two rounds since the league went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987.
That has them back in the conference final for the third time in four seasons and fourth time in the current eight-year playoff run under coach Rod Brind'Amour . The Hurricanes will face the Montreal-Buffalo winner, a series running through at least Thursday. The East's top seed had nearly a full week off after sweeping Ottawa in Round 1.
“I think it's probably going to be an even longer break this time,” veteran forward Taylor Hall said after Saturday's win in Philadelphia. “The big positive is we're on to the third round relatively unscathed and healthy. You don't want to see injuries per se, but we hope these series go far and these teams have battles.
That's the advantage we're going to have. ... Rod, our strength staff, all of our staff, do a good job of making sure that we're ready athletically to play.
And from there, we get our footing pretty quickly. ” The Hurricanes have done exactly that since winning the first game of the NHL playoffs on April 18 . They already have proven they can start quickly after a long break, opening the Flyers series with a dominating first period on the way to a 3-0 win .
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