The Carolina Hurricanes’ depth has been the difference during the playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes took a commanding series lead after blowing out the New Jersey Devils 6-1 on Tuesday night. With Jordan Martinook’s four-point thriller, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk dive into the Canes’ depth and the roles it has played throughout playoffs. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the Carolina Hurricanes, who look like they beat the souls out of the New Jersey Devils. It looked like a crushing loss for the Devils, as the Canes won 6-1, and it’s their guy Jordan Martinook. Frank, we talked about how when Svechnikov went down when Terravainen went down, they don’t have Max Pacioretty, and we’re like, ‘who’s going to score for this Hurricanes team?’ Well, it turns out it’s Jordan Martinook, and he was the superstar they needed all along. This guy is running the playoffs, and he’s been unbelievable, which speaks to the depth of this Hurricanes team. 

Frank Seravalli: It’s amazing that they’re getting Seattle Kraken-like depth scoring. That’s kind of what I was asking before this series was that if the Kraken can do it, why can’t the Canes? So you see someone like Martinook come out of the clear blue sky and have a run in this series, nine points in four games series so far, even he’s confused. It’s amazing to see what’s happening; he’s had 13 and 15-point seasons over the entire regular season before. This is a guy that’s not your typical playoff performer and not someone you’d normally count on to beat the goalie out of his pants on a penalty shot in the playoffs. Those are the types of things we’ve seen from Martinook in these playoffs, and it’s been incredible to watch. To watch the depth scoring the Canes needed, and now we’re talking about Carolina without its top three scorers potentially advancing to the Eastern Conference Final where if the Florida Panthers are able to take care of business, you could be setting yourself up against the eighth seed, which Florida hasn’t played like it. Still, the Canes have a legit chance in what was supposed to be their year to play for the Stanley Cup. That’s an incredible thing to think about for some of the pieces that the Canes have lost. I think we talk a lot about scoring, but I think we overlooked the idea that of all the teams remaining in the playoffs, I think, far and away Carolina has the best defense core. When you see the contribution from Brent Burns and how much he’s meant to that team this year in terms of driving overall play in offense, maybe we should consider that blueline and the role it’s had facilitate some of that depth scoring as well.