The Devils beat the Rangerse because of their speed. Yet Carolina, a slower team, with 3 of its best forwards out, is completely smothering the Devils.
The Hurricanes are using stretch passes to bypass the Devils in the neutral zone. They avoid the neutral zone entirely. The Devils rely on neutral zone turnovers and then score off the rush. Carolina makes no such turnovers. Carolina also uses all of their players on the forecheck, so the opposing party has no cohesion. This also forces more turnovers by the Devils.
I think Carolina would be the hardest counter for the Oilers out of every team in the NHL.
Everything the Oilers excel at, Carolina is basically designed to counter. This is despite the general lack of speed. By the way, Carolina has the 2nd best PK% and has been top 3 every year for the past 3 years. They also took the fewest penalties out of all the playoff teams.
|