The Carolina Hurricanes and the Nashville Predators are familiar foes, playing their third straight game against each other, but their first of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both teams have had seven days off to fully get healthy and ready for the postseason. The game will look very different from the most recent one that we saw.
These games will also feature one more huge change. Both arenas will be lifting a lot of their social distancing rules that limit the number of fans in attendance. With this weekend’s games, it was easy to see the impact on the intensity of play in games with fewer fans, and games with almost full arenas like in Florida.