The Carolina Hurricanes will be facing off against the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs... again.
It will be the third meeting in the last four seasons between these two clubs, with the Bruins having won the previous two series 4-0 in 2019 and 4-1 in 2020.
This year, the Hurricanes have a deeper forward group than in any of their previous three playoff runs, so will this be the year that they finally defeat the Bruins?
Projected Carolina Hurricanes Lineup
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Teuvo Teravainen - Vincent Trocheck - Max Domi
Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Jaccob Slavin - Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Ian Cole - Ethan Bear
Extras: Derek Stepan, Steven Lorentz, Brendan Smith
Projected Boston Bruins Lineup
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Hall - Erik Haula - David Pastrnak
Trent Frederik - Charlie Coyle - Craig Smith
Nick Foligno - Tomas Nosek - Curtis Lazar
Charlie McAvoy - Hampus Lindholm
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Connor Clifton
Extras: Anton Blidh, Oskar Steen, Mike Reilly, Josh Brown
Forwards
Top-Six
When it comes to the marquee matchup between the two teams, the Hurricanes’ top guys will have their work cut out for them against a proven pair of shutdown specialists.