The Carolina Hurricanes don't care if you think they're boring: 'We’re trying to win hockey games'

RALEIGH, N.C.

Sometimes it feels like the Carolina Hurricanes cant win.

Well, proverbially, that is.

We all know they can on the ice.

On Tuesday night, the Hurricanes will meet the Florida Panthers for their third Eastern Conference final in Rod BrindAmours seven years behind the bench of the franchise he once captained to a Stanley Cup.

They have won 10 playoff series and 46 games fifth-most in the NHL during that span.

In the regular season, they have won the third-most games (325) and amassed the fourth-most points (699) eight behind the leading Boston Bruins by playing a hardworking style under BrindAmour that has proven to be a winning formula.

Advertisement Yet six years after the Canes were accused of having too much fun and dubbed by Don Cherry on Coachs Corner as a bunch of jerks for their postgame Storm Surge, many in the hockey world are now calling them another dirty word: boring.

Theyve apparently gone from being too entertaining to ...

way too bland.

Never mind that after scoring the ninth-most goals per game in the regular season, theyve scored more goals per game in these playoffs than the Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars.

Never mind that theyre 8-2 in the postseason and look like a formidable Cup contender.

Well, naturally, just like six years ago when the old boys network was offended by the Canes method of celebrating victories, the Canes social media whizzes and their rabid fan base have latched onto the cynics calling their team boring.

After a five-game dispatch of the New Jersey Devils, the Hurricanes ended the season of the Easts best regular-season team, the Washington Capitals, also in five games.

And then they reminded the naysayers just how dull they are by compiling some of those clips and jabs and compiling them into a humorous post of their own: ECF berths are so boring! pic.twitter.com/6HNgWmjmY0 Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 16, 2025 And just like those bunch of jerks T-shirts flew off the shelves in 2019 as the Canes advanced to the first conference final under BrindAmour, red Keep Carolina Hockey Boring T-shirts are being sold online.

Inside the locker room where one of the last four remaining NHL teams was preparing for the third round of the playoffs Sunday, reaction to the boring accusations varied between giggles and eyerolls.

You read it everywhere now and youre like, OK, we play a high-paced, puck pressure game with a lot of shots, top-pair defenseman Jaccob Slavin said.

So if people find that boring, then I dont know.

I dont think its a boring game.

I think its hard to play against.

I dont think its boring, though.

I think people are confusing boring with hard to play against.

Advertisement First-line right wing Seth Jarvis smiled widely when asked if the Canes are boring.

I feel if this was Toronto or a different team shutting teams down, theyd be getting praised out of this world, Jarvis said.

But its just the way it is because were not Toronto, and were totally fine with it.

We dont think were boring at all.

I mean, we create plenty of offense, maybe a little different than other teams.

But scoring goals is scoring goals, and thats something that weve gotten better at and started to do more consistently, especially in the playoffs now.

I mean, I have a blast playing this style.

Theres no doubt BrindAmour demands a specific style of hockey that, in part, made him a winner and an arguably should-be Hall of Famer.

If you really watch the Hurricanes play, sure, they are strict with their structure.

But they dont sit back.

When they dont have the puck, they pounce to get it back, then go hard on the forecheck and pepper opposing nets with pucks.

After averaging the second-most shots per game in the regular season (31.7), theyre averaging the second-most in the playoffs (33.2) and are by far the leagues Corsi champs.

Do you find that boring? center Sebastian Aho said, chuckling.

Were trying to win hockey games.

Thats it.

Our style is hard work.

Every team works this time of year and they compete, theres no question about that.

But I think were willing to work our tails off for each other.

Our base is hard work to be the hardest-working team on the ice every night.

But our goal is to hound the puck and wear down opponents offensively.

Its more fun to play in the offensive zone and have a chance to score goals, and that is how we play no matter what people may think.

With that comes an attention to detail demanded by BrindAmour that is probably the biggest factor in everything we do.

Advertisement When were detailed, you see a game thats hard to play against.

Thats the trick, he said.

BrindAmour joked that he could sit down and show you (the details all over the ice) ...

but I wont.

He just asks for total buy-in, and for the most part, hes gotten it throughout his seven years as Carolinas coach.

As Jordan Martinook famously said in 2019 , I would run through hot coals for that guy.

BrindAmour says the boring criticism probably stems from the fact the Hurricanes dont have those sexy players yet that maybe play with the pizzazz of superstars like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Kirill Kaprizov.

Theyre coming, BrindAmour said, an indication that just because Mikko Rantanen didnt want to move his life and career to the Tar Heel State doesnt mean the Canes are done pursuing stars in the offseasons to come.

But still, Carolina believes it has plenty of offensive talent in the likes of Aho, Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, Logan Stankoven and others.

The only way to score is with the puck, so we try to keep it as long as possible, Jarvis said.

And whether thats rimming the puck or chipping it out and using our speed that apparently some people dont like, thats the name of the game.

But this organizations done a great job at bringing people in that they know fit the mold and fit right in and be able to plug and play and not have a big drop-off or anything.

I find the way we play a fun brand of hockey.

Eric Tulsky, Carolinas general manager, couldnt care less about the criticism his team has taken from anonymous hockey fans on X or some in the media.

Entertainment, to him, is winning, and the Canes do a lot of it.

We want to win the Cup, and thats what our fans want, Tulsky told The Athletic .

So I dont really care what people think of the way we play.

But even setting that aside, I dont believe the way we play is boring at all.

I understand that criticism of teams that play a stifling defense by playing very passively and sitting back and just clogging things up and denying chances, but we play a stifling defense by being as aggressive as possible and getting on you at every turn and trying to make every single pass hard.

Advertisement Thats what you want to see.

You want to see that aggression.

Thats the opposite of boring to me.

Its an all-out attack, so I dont know where that narrative came from.

I cant imagine people that have really watched us play a lot of games have thought, This is boring, but its a matter of personal taste.

The Canes are averaging a league-best 1.8 goals-against per game this postseason, one goal fewer allowed than in the regular season.

Freddie Andersens 12.2 goals saved above expected is the best in the playoffs and his 1.36 goals-against average through nine starts is the lowest since Ilya Bryzgalovs 1.00 with Anaheim in 2006.

But believe it or not, BrindAmour wants his team to score goals.

Two years ago, when the Canes were swept by the Panthers in the Eastern Conference final and scored six times in the series, BrindAmour was beside himself in the postgame presser.

He was almost defiant, saying, Everyones going to say you got swept, and thats not what happened.

Im there.

Were in the game.

We didnt lose four games.

We got beat but we were right there.

This could have went the other way.

It could have been four games the other way.

The Canes lost Game 1 in four overtimes.

They lost Game 2 in another overtime and put 38 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky.

Game 3 was another 1-0 loss in which they only allowed 17 shots while Bobrovsky denied 32.

And the Game 4 loss came when Matthew Tkachuk scored a tie-breaking, power-play goal with five seconds left.

Brindamour hopes the stinging feeling after perhaps deserving better in the series will be a great learning lesson for his group this time around.

Defend well.

Defend hard.

And score enough goals to win, which is the name of the game and much more important than style points.

Eastern Conference finalists for the third time in seven years pic.twitter.com/PBp6PsuCYg Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) May 18, 2025 The Hurricanes had a lot of turnover heading into this season.

Many wondered if their window was closed and they could even miss the playoffs.

Then the trade for Rantanen didnt work out and many felt at the deadline they again could be in trouble coming down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Yet, here they are again ...

eight wins from a Stanley Cup.

Advertisement Weve got a job to do, BrindAmour said.

I think from Day 1 of the year, we had this vision of where we want to go.

And I think guys have (done) a real good job staying focused on not getting too far ahead.

We know its still a long way to go.

I mean, were halfway to that.

Its just understanding where we want to be but understanding how you got to get there.

Every year is a great opportunity.

I mean, we all understand how hard it is.

Like, I dont know that necessarily everyone out there does, but to get to this point is extremely hard to do.

I think we all appreciate that.

But also youve got to take advantage of that opportunity because you dont know when theyre coming around (again).

I think theres a sense of urgency there on that.

Which means, guess what? More attention to detail.

More structure.

And more hounding of the puck that makes the Hurricanes hard to play against and one tough out.

The greatest thing about this team is whenever its time to work, we work, Aho said.

Added Jarvis, Its special knowing that whoever we put on the ice, we have a chance to win.

We all play the same way, which is the biggest part.

We know what to expect out of each other.

Now its just a matter of getting over this hump and taking the next steps to become a championship team.

And if that means two more rounds of being called boring, well, so be it.

Nobody in Raleigh will be complaining of boredom if theyre hoisting that Stanley Cup for the second time in 19 years.

(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.