NFL
By Jesse Rosales
The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders had very interesting seasons. Both had really high moments and definitely some low moments. One team was very aggressive at the trade deadline, and the other not so much. One team exceeded their expectations while it could be argued that the other fell short despite winning their own division.
Let’s recap how these two Metropolitan teams got here.
Carolina Hurricanes Season Review
The Carolina Hurricanes had arguably the most hype of any team coming into the 2022-23 NHL season. Coming off a strong season last year and seeing the growth of players like Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov, it seemed like this team was 1 or 2 key players away from being a legit cup contender. Then they added Max Pacioretty from the Vegas Golden Knights and it really felt like they had something special.
Unfortunately, Pacioretty never made much of an impact after getting injured at the beginning of the season and never making it back on the ice in any consistent form. The Hurricanes continued to be a top team in the Eastern Conference but failed to make any significant moves at the trade deadline. At the same time, they lost Svechnikov to an injury and now all of a sudden this team didn’t look so threatening, especially offensively.
Goaltending was average at best and there are certainly questions going into this first-round matchup of who the number 1 goalie is going to be. The Canes finished in second place in the Eastern Conference with 113 points. That being said, going 5-5-0 in their last 10 games, things definitely don’t appear to be trending in the right direction.
New York Islanders Season Review
In a kind of opposite move from the Hurricanes, the Islanders were very aggressive at the tradeline. They acquired Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks in what was one of the biggest trades of the season. Horvat has provided some much-needed offensive firepower to this team. Pairing that with the Vezina Trophy-worthy play of goaltender Ilya Sorokin and the Isles were primed to make a strong playoff push, which they did.
While Sorokin may lose out of the Vezina due to the play of Linus Ullmark of Boston, he ended the season with a save percentage of .924 and a goals-against average of 2.34. Both top 5 numbers in the league. The Islanders are also expected to get Mathew Barzal back to start the series. The Isles finished the regular season with 93 overall points.
Stanley Cup Playoff Rd 1 Prediction
They say that defense and goaltending win championships. For the most part, I believe this to be true unless you have a team built like the Colorado Avalanche from last season. The Hurricanes are definitely the better team on paper but they certainly haven’t been playing like it. The Islanders meanwhile have been in playoff mode for the past month while battling for a wild-card position.
This series is definitely not a slam dunk for the Canes, but Vegas does list them as -210 favorites in the series. That number isn’t very appealing to me, but I would look at the Islanders +1.5 games. That would mean the Islanders could win outright, or just force a game 7 to cash that ticket. I would also take a look at the total number of games odds for 7 total games. Currently priced at +200.
There are always upsets in the playoffs and this seems like a possible one for sure. I’m going to take the Islanders in 7 games.
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