By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Special teams likely to decide Hurricanes-Tigers series

Apr 6, 2017 | 5:29 PM

LETHBRIDGE – It’s time to get back to work for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, just a few days after a thrilling – and historic – series win over the Red Deer Rebels.

The ‘Canes open round two of the WHL playoffs on the road in Medicine Hat, as they face the rival Tigers on Friday (Apr. 7).

Taking a look at the numbers from the regular season series between the two clubs, Lethbridge will certainly have their hands full against a Medicine Hat team that finished second overall in the Western Hockey League with 103 points.

There is some good news though – especially for fans who only remember the last few contests between the two – as the seven games they played were relatively even throughout 2016-17.

It started with a home-and-home split to open the season, as Lethbridge took game one by a score of 4-2, then lost 9-3 on the road the following night. The Hurricanes would win their next two matchups in December by scores of 3-2 and 9-7, before losing all three meetings in 2017. In those games, they fell 5-0, 5-1 and 8-7.

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What stood out between the teams through those matchups, was a distinct special-teams advantage for the Tigers. Their power play operated at a lethal 40-per cent, which was well above their season average of 29-per cent.

By comparison, the Hurricanes man-advantage came in at 19-per cent, down from their average of 24-per cent.

The positive for the ‘Canes to draw on here is that they’re just coming off a seven-game series in which they also struggled on special-teams to begin with, only to see a significant swing back the other way with a few tweaks.

Through the first four games against Red Deer, Lethbridge scored on just 13-per cent of their chances and only killed 62-per cent of the penalties against them. That resulted in a 1-3 record. In the next three – which the Hurricanes won – they went 35-per cent with the man-advantage and stopped 78-per cent of the Rebels’ extra man attacks, blanking them completely in the last two games.

After taking the series, captain Tyler Wong noted that they tried a “new look” on the power play, while also touching on the improved penalty kill.

“We changed it up a little bit, I think it was just a lot of heart. PK is all heart. You’ve got to put your face in front of pucks, you gotta block shots, you’ve gotta take a hit to get the puck down the ice,” explained Wong.

If the Hurricanes can continue operating at those special-team levels, we should be in for a great series.

If not, then Hurricanes’ fans should probably hope the referees leave their whistles at home.