And just like that, here are the Boston Bruins again. The team that ended the Carolina Hurricanes' season a year go looms over them again in the actual first round of the NHL playoffs, the best team in the Eastern Conference is somehow the fourth seed _ the Hurricanes' "reward" for winning an extra playoff series they wouldn't normally have had to play.
"I think it's great we get a chance to play them in what's technically the first round," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said Monday from the NHL's Toronto bubble, a verbal shrug of the shoulders. "Might as well get at the best right away. There's no point in waiting for it."
The Hurricanes have a nasty habit of running into the same teams over and over again in the playoffs, and the Bruins have lately popped up more than anyone. With four meetings in the Hurricanes' seven postseasons in North Carolina and in each of the last three (over a 12-year span), this puts them even with the New Jersey Devils, once the standard for perennial playoff partners. More than half of the Hurricanes' playoff series have now been against either the Bruins, the Devils or the Montreal Canadiens.
It doesn't take familiarity to breed contempt. There was more than enough of that last time around and there figures to be more than enough of it again.
Of the four main factors that led to Boston's sweep last year _ and there were many _ the Hurricanes appear to have addressed three of them, at worst, and may even have an edge, at best, in the best-of-seven series that starts Tuesday night, based on the Bruins' limp performance in last week's round-robin that dropped them from first to fourth.
Goaltending is the big one. Petr Mrazek struggled against the Bruins in his return from injury a year ago, but the Hurricanes' goaltending was stellar in the preliminary round sweep of the Rangers _ he and James Reimer. Whether that will carry over is always the question, but there's reason for confidence, at least.
The Hurricanes' power play, a critical deficiency throughout the season and playoffs in 2019, was far better in this regular season and dynamic if not breathtakingly productive to open the playoffs. It seems unlikely they'll be as badly outgunned on special teams as they were against the Bruins. The Hurricanes scored five power-play goals in 15 playoff games last year. They had two in three games against the Rangers. (The Bruins scored seven against them in last year's sweep.) So far in the postseason, to the extent conclusions can be drawn, the Hurricanes are ahead of the Bruins on both the power play (14.3% to 0.0 percent) and penalty-kill (92.9% to 83.3 percent).
"Last year, I think we learned for sure about special teams," Brind'Amour said. "Their power play was so potent. It still is. That's going to be a big concern. ... Tuukka (Rask) played well for them but they dominated in the special teams area. That can't happen this year."
The Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak dominated the Hurricanes last May, with six goals and 14 points in the four games, but the Hurricanes' top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen was as impressive as any in either bubble, combining for seven goals and 15 points in three games. Outmatched a year ago, the Hurricanes have reason to be optimistic about how the top lines match.
"They're really well connected," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "They remind me of when our Bergeron line going. They can turn away from pressure, they don't need a lot of time to find each other, they have that sixth sense on the ice of knowing where they're going to be."
All of that is legitimate reason for optimism. But the Bruins also bullied the Hurricanes, mentally and physically, to the point where Justin Williams, of all people, completely lost his composure and openly mocked by Marchand on the ice. Dougie Hamilton had some bad moments in the Washington series _ stepping out of a hit that led to a Capitals goal _ but he was a total nonfactor against his former team.
Do they now have the sand to handle a rough customer like the Bruins? There's only one way to find out.
"We have a run under our belt," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said, then gestured to Svechnikov beside him. "I think guys like this kid here and other kids in the room learned a lot from that. It's going to help us playing against a team that's done it before and has consistently been a very good team for a long time. We're trying to get to that level. It started with last year and now we have a little more confidence in ourselves and the team we can be and what we can do."
There's no question these are two franchises moving in different planes of existence, the Bruins trying to stave off the end of their championship window as the ageless Zdeno Chara finally shows signs of decline, cap and contract issues (Torey Krug, Jake DeBrusk) out there in the distance, while the Hurricanes are just at the beginning of what they hope will be their window. Last year was the first taste of real playoff hockey _ and the Bruins series was as real as it gets _ for so many of the young Hurricanes. Their newfound experience showed in the way they manhandled a Rangers team in a similar position.
"I would hope we've grown a lot," Brind'Amour said. "What'd we learn last year? We learned they're one of the best teams for a reason."
