Hurricanes’ Second Line Played Key Role in Sweep of Senators – The Hockey Writers – Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes have advanced to the second round, sweeping the Ottawa Senators. They’ve become the first team to advance, and they await the winner of the Battle of Pennsylvania. Carolina was powered through this series by their second line, and it was a dominant performance from the trio of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake, and Taylor Hall. Even when there was a target on the back of Hall in Game 4, that trio contributed to breaking the back of the Senators and getting the game under control of the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes scored nine goals on a goaltender in this series that counted. Stankoven scored four of them, Hall had two, and Blake added another. That is seven of the nine total. Carolina never trailed in this series, and a major reason was that they always led. They were never playing from behind thanks to the excellence of the second line. They were just superb, and it goes beyond the point totals.

Shining Stankoven

Carolina’s early nominee for the Conn Smythe is the guy with four goals. Stankoven has been everything the Hurricanes could have asked for and more since he was acquired from the Dallas Stars in the trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to Texas. Stankoven’s four goals in this series were one less than the entire Senators roster. That’s the kind of series that Carolina got from Stankoven.

For someone in his first year playing as a center, and aged just 23, Stankoven’s five-point playoff series in a sweep is such an exciting prospect for Carolina. The Hurricanes have never had a second line that could win them a series like that when their big guys aren’t contributing, and if Stankoven can be the solution long-term at 2C, the Hurricanes are going to be a force.

The Former League MVP

At the time of writing, Hall is the top point scorer in the playoffs. Through four games, he’s got seven points. He’s done that in a series where his team scored 11 total goals. He was dominant throughout the series and got himself onto the scoresheet in the deciding fourth game despite being public enemy number one throughout Ottawa after a questionable hit on Jake Sanderson in Game 3.

Hall’s the straw that has to stir the drink on this line. The other two players are extremely talented, but very inexperienced. They’re young, and the mentorship he provides, along with the skills he has, makes him a wonderful fit, but it also puts a lot of pressure on him to produce and lead by example. In this series, he was magical, and he looked like the Taylor Hall of old. If he can sustain that, Carolina will be a different monster entirely.

The Blake-Out Player

I’ve said before that there are not many players in the league who are more elegant than Blake is. His skill level is incredible, but there are times when he tries to be too cute with the puck. Many feared that he’d be too timid in the postseason. Instead, Blake looked much more mature than he did last postseason. Instead of being dazzled by the bright lights, Blake stepped up and showed he was ready.

While he was the third-best player on his line, he still ended up with four points, including the critical game-winning goal in Game 3 to give the Hurricanes a stranglehold on the series. Blake was not at his best in this series, so the fact that the trio have another gear to find is a promising development for the Hurricanes’ ambitions. They need that trio to break games open when the star players cannot.

Analytical Dominance

In a battle between two analytical darling franchises, the one line to shine through the mud was the second line of Carolina. Among the NHL lines to play at least 30 postseason minutes, that line has the highest expected goals share (xG%), according to Moneypuck. If you don’t know what expected goal share is, it is essentially the percentage of expected goals for (xGF) the line has when on the ice. Anything above 50% means you have a better xGF than your opponent.

Hall-Stankoven-Blake has an xG% of 73.6, the best of any line in the postseason (at the time of writing, it is only Game 4, which could change before Carolina plays again). No line has a higher xGF than this line’s 3.9. They have just been dominant, winning a key matchup against the Senators’ shutdown line, and it has resulted in a rather comfortable sweep over Ottawa.

Defensive Stability

The other side of this is that line, at 5-on-5, gave up zilch. Of the five goals Ottawa scored in the series, none of them came when that second line was on the ice. They pinned the opposition in their own zone, forcing teams to live with the relentless pressure the Hurricanes put on. Ottawa couldn’t do that, and they never looked like they were putting that second line for Carolina under any defensive pressure.

They gave up 1.4 expected goals against in that entire series. That’s one clear chance in four games. That’s not just great defensive play; it’s domination from that line. They kicked the Senators up and down the ice, and they are the reason Carolina has time to rest and recover rather than having to prepare for another battle in a war of a playoff series.

Is It Sustainable?

This is the question that will float around the Hurricanes after that excellent display. Can they keep it going? They wouldn’t be the first hot line to fizzle late in a series. It’s never easy to sustain postseason scoring, and this will be no different. The Hurricanes will need their depth to keep going, and there are some worrying signs.

Traditionally, PDO is used to measure luck. It’s just the shooting percentage plus save percentage. If it is above 1.000, it’s a little lucky; if it’s below, it’s unlucky. The Stankoven line had a PDO of 1.103, according to Natural Stat Trick. Now, that’s largely because Frederik Andersen was perfect with that trio on the ice, but it is a concern about the sustainability of the roster’s success. Hurricanes fans around the world will be hoping they can continue it, but they’ll have to wait until the second round starts to know for certain.