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The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 Sunday afternoon, to take a 1-0 series lead.
It was a dominant performance by the Canes who just took the lead early and never looked back, piling on the shots and chances.
While it was a nearly top-to-bottom performance, here are my three biggest takeaways from the game:
Second Line Dominates Devils
Hands down the best line on the ice Sunday afternoon was the Canes' second line even if they didn't get onto the scoresheet.
The trio of Andrei Svechnikov, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Taylor Hall looked dangerous every time they had the puck and were just relentless in getting it back when they didn't.
Between the three of them, they had 12 shots on goal, three blocks and quite a few hits.
The line outchanced the Devils 20-6 and had eight high-danger chances in 8:52 of 5v5 ice time with a 94.42% expected goals share.
There were quite a few near-goal moments for the three and if they can just keep playing the way they did in Game 1, they're going to be a huge X-factor for Carolina.
Top Line Has Room To Grow
I didn't think it was the best game overall from the Hurricanes' top line of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake, but despite that, they still could have scored more than once in that game.
They were outchanced 14-7 in their minutes, but only surrendered a single high-danger shot against.
It was clear that the line had perhaps a bit of rust given the fact that they sat out the last few games of the regular season, but they didn't hurt the team either which was the biggest thing.
Jarvis in particular made quite a few high-end individual plays that could lead to some goals down the line once his linemates get back up to speed.
I also thought Blake didn't look too fazed by his first dose of playoff hockey.
I expect that line to come out flying on Tuesday.
Special Teams
One of the potential scale tipping aspects of the game for New Jersey was supposed to be their edge on special teams.
They entered the postseason with the third ranked power play and the second ranked penalty kill, but it was Carolina who had the edge after Game 1.
The Hurricanes, who had the top-ranked penalty kill in the league, went a perfect 2-for-2 last night, including what could have easily been one or two shorthanded goals if not for the strong play of Jacob Markstrom, and the power play finally came through for Carolina.
It was certainly some snipe by Logan Stankoven to get Lenovo Center rocking, but if both man advantage units can find ways to contribute for the Canes, it's going to be so, so huge for the team.
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