2022 Stanley Cup playoffs – Carolina Hurricanes swear road woes are ‘nonissue’ in Game 6 against New York Rangers

RALEIGH — As the Carolina Hurricanes try to eliminate the New York Rangers on Saturday night in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, they’re downplaying the Stanley Cup playoff trend that makes a Game 7 back in Raleigh feel practically inevitable at this point.

“It’s kind of beating a dead horse about us not winning on the road,” center Vincent Trocheck said.

The Hurricanes’ Game 5 victory Thursday night improved them to 7-0 in Raleigh this postseason. They have a goal differential of plus-17 and a goals-against average of 1.14, having not given up more than two goals in any game against the Boston Bruins or the Rangers in their two playoff series.

The road has been far crueler to Carolina: They’ve gone 0-5, with a minus-13 goal differential and a 4.20 goals-against average.

They’re night and day, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They’re the Carolina Hurricanes at home and the Hartford Whalers on the road.

The Hurricanes are the first team in NHL history to be involved in 12 straight games in which the home team won every contest to begin the postseason. The previous mark was 11 held by the 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs.

“They’re definitely a better team at home than they have been on the road,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “And I can say the same thing for us. I don’t know why that’s going on.”

His counterpart, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour has opted to de-emphasize that dichotomy.

“It’s such a nonissue. It’s all I hear about,” Brind’Amour said Friday. “We haven’t played poorly on the road. There have been a couple of things that went squirrelly. Every game takes on its own kind of life.”

Yet there are some undeniable differences between the Hurricanes and Rangers at home and on the road in these playoffs:

• The Hurricanes have been able to effectively deploy Jordan Staal’s checking line against the top lines of the Rangers and Bruins at home, shutting them down at 5-on-5. On the road, the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad doesn’t have a 5-on-5 point against Carolina while…