Hurricanes Carry the East's Best Record Into Seattle
The Kraken, holding the West's third wild card, need to cool off a Carolina attack that wins away from home as often as anywhere.
Written before the game
Carolina comes to Seattle as the best team in the East, and over their last ten games they have simply had the puck at the other team's net far more often than their opponents have.
The Hurricanes are 14-3-2 with 30 points and a +33 goal differential, first in the Metropolitan and the Eastern Conference. They have been even better on the road (8-2-1) than at home. Over their last ten, their chances have been worth 4.02 expected goals a game (expected goals: how many goals the chances should produce), against 2.77 allowed. They have also averaged 66 shot attempts a game while giving up about 51.
Seattle is 9-6-1 with 19 points, ninth in the West and holding the third wild card. Over the same stretch the Kraken have been on the wrong side of the chances, at 2.65 expected goals for and 3.36 against, and have been outshot heavily in attempts, 51 to roughly 64 a game.
For Seattle to win, the Kraken have to keep Carolina's shot volume down and get big saves in net. For Carolina, it is simpler: play the way they have, and let the volume do the work.