They're 34-22 this year - one fewer road win than all of last season. Add up all the playoffs since 2011 and road teams have gone 434-531 (.450). Since 2011, only once have road teams won more than home teams, when they went 44-40 (.524) in 2018. That has something to do with it."īrind'Amour said home ice has "become less of an advantage." No offense to home fans, he said, who give the Hurricanes energy, but the longtime player-turned-coach said, "I just don't know how much it hurts the other team." You could build your roster a little around them, like baseball parks. "They were much more intimidating, smaller. "When you think back to playoff series, you think of the old Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium," Cassidy said. It wasn't until 1996, when the Sabres moved out of "The Aud" in Buffalo, that all NHL arenas were a uniform 200-by-85 feet. Maurice, Cassidy, Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour and noted that every rink is now the same size no more special quirks like the tight corners in Boston Garden designed for the Bruins to be big and tough. They're not even necessarily hitters, and that's kind of true around the league." Like our third line has three guys who can make plays. "It may have to do with the structure of the teams now and how much that's changed over the years," Florida coach Paul Maurice said before his team won a second consecutive road game take a 2-0 series lead on Toronto. There is less of a drop-off from the stars on the first line to depth contributors on the fourth. Matchups that used to be paramount don't matter as much now that there's so much offensive talent across lineups. 607 winning percentage is by far the highest of any playoff year dating to 1966, not counting 2020 when games were played at neutral sites with no fans.Ĭoaches point to better preparation and more roster depth as well as parity leaguewide that has evened out the differences among teams playing for the Stanley Cup. The Golden Knights are not alone in what Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper declared "the year of the road team." Visiting teams have matched the best start in league history with 34 wins through 56 games the. Vegas beat the Jets twice on the road and won the series in five games. "Great hotel, by the way: great service, nice people, just no damn hot water."Īnd no home cooking. "They had no hot water at the Fairmont Hotel last week in Winnipeg, which I really didn't like at all," coach Bruce Cassidy said. When the Vegas Golden Knights went on the road to face the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the NHL playoffs, they got a chilly welcome - and that was inside.
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