Pekka Kumpula
The NHL schedule creates a special situation, writes Pekka Kumpula.
The Carolina Hurricanes have reached a frenzy. PDO
Not so the NHL.
The Carolina Hurricanes are finding themselves in a situation that seems almost unfathomable when you look at the playoff schedule.
The Hurricanes advanced convincingly to the finals of the Eastern Conference, when they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4–0. The team’s spring has been almost perfect in terms of results, and it has written NHL history at the same time with eight consecutive playoff victories.
And yet the next step can turn out to be a completely different kind of test.
The opponent for the conference finals will be decided by the series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres, which is currently tied at 1-1. In the extreme case, the solution of the series will stretch into a stalemate, which will not be played until 19.5.
This opens up a setting that inevitably raises questions.
If the series goes far, the Hurricanes will have to wait almost two weeks for their next game. And even though the solution may come earlier, even on Friday, when the break would remain significantly more moderate, the possibility of a long wait is still completely real.
The end result is special.
The Hurricanes have been one of the hottest teams of the spring and have played almost flawlessly, but may now find themselves in a situation where the rhythm of the game is broken right before the conference finals.
And at this point the setting is also explained by a wider whole. The Hurricanes started their second-round series against the Flyers early, even though the first round was not yet fully resolved.
Could the start of the Hurricanes-Flyers series have been stretched a bit? Absolutely.
The NHL’s match schedule has been criticized before, and this incident at least does not silence the voices. When one team can have to wait almost two weeks for their next game while the others are still finishing their series, the whole looks forcedly unbalanced.
In the end, the question is simple but tricky: is this an advantage or a trap? Playing too much consumes, but waiting too much can kill momentum.
