Another look at this round one matchup
I thought it might be worthwhile to compare the Hurricanes and Devils, line by line. Of course this comparison does not prove anything, but it is interesting.
It is important to note that these numbers do not include Jack Hughes, who will miss this series due to injury.
First, let’s look at the Devils.
(line information from ( https://puckpedia.com/lineups/new-jersey-devils )
Line one – Noesen 22G 19A – Hischier 35G 34A – Bratt 21G 67A
Totals – 78G 120A Total 198 points
Line two – Haula 11G 10A – Mercer 19G 17A – Meier 26G 27A
Totals – 56G 54A Total 100 points
Line three – Cotter 16G 6A – Glass 6G 16A – Sprong 2G 5A
Totals – 24G 27A Total 51 points
Line four – Palat 15G 13A – Dowling 2G 5A – Bastian 4G 6A
Totals – 21G 24A Total 45 points
Next up, the Hurricanes ( https://puckpedia.com/lineups/carolina-hurricanes )
Line one – Jarvis 32G 35A – Aho 29G 45A – Blake 17G 17A
Totals 78G 97A Total 175 points
Line two – Hall 18G 24A – Kotkaniemi 12G 21A – Svechnikov 20G 28A
Totals 50G 73A Totals 123 points
Line three – Martinook 15G 21A– Staal 13G 23A – Carrier 4g 7a
Totals – 32G 51A Totals 83 points
Line four – Roslovic 22G 17A – Jankowski 12G 5A – Stankoven 14G 24A
Totals – 48G 46A Totals – 94 points
As you can see, I took a few liberties creating the lines for Carolina.
I moved William Carrier to the third line because those three skaters were so effective together earlier in the season.
I had Eric Robinson as the healthy scratch but I could be wrong about that one. He had 14 goals compared to 22 for Roslovic, but he was a +14 versus a -10 for the latter.
The Devils first line had more total points than the Carolina first line. But if we were to exchange Svechnikov and Blake, the point totals for the top two lines for each team would be pretty close.
Where the Hurricanes seem to have the distinct scoring advantage would be with the third and fourth lines. Carolina needs those two lines to take advantage when they play against each other, and perform in accordance to the stats.
Of course, goaltending will be huge and the defense scoring is another topic. This is just one thing to look at.