Notebook: The First Practice of the Postseason

RALEIGH, NC. -The Stanley Cup Playoffs are here.
After five preseason tuneups and 82 regular-season games, the schedule is set for the
best-of-seven series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders.
Now, the preparation begins.

Players and coaches took to the ice on Saturday at PNC Arena, for their first of two scheduled practices this weekend.

In The Crease

Perhaps the biggest storyline for Carolina entering the series is their goaltending and the question of who will start in Game 1.
Since Antti Raanta returned from a lower-body injury on April 1, Rod Brind'Amour and staff rotated between him and Frederik Andersen for the final eight games of the regular season.
If it was an audition for the role, the octet of games wound up being rather similar to how the bulk of the season has gone, with each displaying reasons as to why they should be 'the guy'.
Raanta went 3-1 with a .925 save percentage, but, of the four teams he played, none of them are playoff teams.
Meanwhile, Andersen put up a record of 2-2 with a lesser .909 SV%, however, his two wins both came over clubs that are still playing,
including a victory over the Islanders where he stopped 21 out of 22.
So, who goes on Monday?
While both Andersen and Raanta would love to have their name read from the lineup card, the reality is that only will get the nod. And the other will have to stay ready.
"I'm just going to try and do what I've been doing the last couple of weeks," Raanta said of the situation with his patented smile. "I'm just going to try and keep the same mentality. I'm going to work hard in practice and whoever's turn it is, we're going to have a good chance to win. If it's not your turn, you're going to be the hype guy. You're going to try and give the guys a little extra energy on the bench or in the locker room. It's all day-by-day right now and that's how it always is in the playoffs."

Producing On Offense

The other question mark for the club is if they will be able to find the back of the net enough to win games.
Without Andrei Svechnikov, Max Pacioretty, and Ondrej Kase, three key goal-scorers for the club, the unit's by-committee approach will be required to continue. The unit produced an average of just 2.72 goals per game
after Svechnikov went down on March 11
, ranking 26th out of 32 in the league during that time.
More than one-third (17 out of 49 tallies) of the team's offense over that span came from their blue line, closing out their record-setting 59-goal season. It would be hard to ask for much more from the defense, as Brent Burns and Brady Skjei both concluded the regular season tied for third among all blueliners with 18 goals.
With that being said, what can the forwards do to ensure they're successful against the Isles?
"We have to get a lot of shots on net and create as much of a distraction as we can against (Ilya) Sorokin," Sebastian Aho remarked. "We have to try and get those second and third opportunities. We have to create offense off of our rebounds and forecheck."
In addition to the forwards, the man advantage, which has operated at a 10.9% success rate (31st out of 32) since losing Svechnikov, is another area that the team is hoping to get going.
Aho was blunt on the subject, saying, "Obviously our power play has to step up," but that's not solely on his shoulders to fix.
From Brind'Amour's perspective, one of his tasks is trying to make sure that Aho isn't trying to do too much in the absence of the key forwards.
"He has (tried to do too much at times). No doubt about it," the head coach said of his star. "And that's good. You want your guys to feel like they have to do more. He has to realize that there's only so much he can do. We're not picking up the slack with Svech being out, one guy can't do that. Nor could one guy pick it up when Patches went out. It's a group effort. We all just have to be a little bit better. Sebastian is our best player, but he doesn't have to be superhuman. He's just got to be him."

Bonus Notes

Worth A Click:
Limited Round One Tickets On Sale Now
Canes and Islanders Round One Schedule
Burns Named NHL's Second Star of the Week
Writers Roundtable: Before The Playoffs
Fensore Signed To Two-Year Entry-Level Contract
CanesCast Episode 246: Now The Fun Begins
Back-To-Back Metro Division Champions Pucks On Sale Now
National Champion Goaltender Perets Signed To Two-Year Entry-Level Contract
Mailbag: Head Athletic Trainer Doug Bennett
Burnside: Svechnikov, Necas Continue To Grow Together
Learn More About Season Ticket Memberships For The 2023-24 Season