Before the second round of the playoffs started, we were all on pins and needles as to when the Hurricanes would start their series against Philadelphia, all the while thinking “surely we’ll have a little bit of a heads up.”
The fact that the league announced the start of a playoff series less than 48 hours from Game One, the criticism they took for it, plus the NBA having an intricate outline available of what the schedule would be in an if/then format had people all across the NHL up in arms. Apparently they listened because almost immediately the NHL started doing the same thing—essentially announcing game times multiple days in advance and having every scenario covered so fans and teams could be ready for what would come next. This even affected the Canes, as they knew going into Game Four against Philly they would have played Game Five in Raleigh at 7 PM after the league initially called it TBA.
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Once again the league seems to have decided it was time to be proactive instead of reactive.
On Thursday night, while the NFL was in the midst of their social media teams’ Super Bowl of publishing what their schedule would be, the NHL announced what the Conference Finals series would look like for both the East and the West, as well as which network was taking the broadcasts. Notably they did this during Game Five of the Buffalo/Montreal series, meaning they have accounted for the fact that the series could go all the way until Monday of next week.
The west is set and will start on Wednesday next week allowing for both teams to get a little bit of extra rest. In the East, should Montreal finish the job Saturday at home, they’ll get a day to celebrate, fly to Raleigh on Monday, and the series will kick off on Tuesday. Should Buffalo win on the road again—and right now there are three road wins to two in this series—Game Seven will be Monday Night, that winner will get one day to recover, fly to Raleigh on Wednesday, and the series starts Thursday with the Hurricanes going an incredible eleven days between playing a hockey game.
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The format will be every other night for the Conference Finals, No extra days for traveling, and either way the Hurricanes will be the team that gets to play on Memorial Day.
With that, the US networks were also determined. ESPN decided to take the Presidents’ Trophy winners in Colorado over the chance of having Buffalo because of the risk they may be stuck with a Canadian team against a team that historically doesn’t perform well in the ratings. ESPN also has the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals this year, meaning that Carolina’s games will be going up against a series involving the New York Knicks.
That means that once again Carolina’s Eastern Conference Finals series will be broadcast nationally by TNT Sports on cable and available on HBO Max via the streaming app. For the first time this playoffs, the full A team of Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, and Jackie Redmond will cover the Canes. As always, Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy will have the call on the Hurricanes Radio Network for those who may want to hear the home town crew.
So Canes fans, if you want to start ASAP root for Montreal on Saturday. If you want them to get as much rest as possible and face a team worn through playing either thirteen or fourteen games root for Buffalo. Either way, the Playoffs are back in action next week.
