Hurricanes Home-Ice Advantage Not as Strong as You Think

If you bet on the home team in every game involving the Carolina Hurricanes during this year's NHL Playoffs, you'd be an undefeated 13-0 with your bets.

That's right, heading into Game 7 against the New York Rangers on Monday night, the Hurricanes are 7-0 at home, and 0-6 on the road this postseason. Despite what those numbers tell you, being at home doesn't make them an auto-bet.

The Hurricanes are set as -145 favorites at WynnBET in Game 7.

Why Are the Hurricanes So Good at Home?

My answer to that question would be that they actually AREN'T that much better at home than on the road.

When comparing advanced analytics for 5-on-5 play for the Hurricanes between their home and away games in the postseason, you don't see much of a difference. In fact, many stats are actually better on the road. They average more chances, more in-zone shots, and a higher percentage of controlled entry and controlled exit.

The outlier, the thing that has made helped lead them to a 7-0 home record, is that they're simply getting better goaltending and slightly better defensive play. Whether this is a trend that has worked in their favor, or just the result of their opponents not playing as well, they're allowing 1.4 fewer goals per game than expect when at home.

They're also shooting slightly better at home as well.

Shooting percentage and save percentage are two stats that you see have more variance than others. So the point still stands, that they actually aren't playing as much better at home ice as their records would indicate.

But are the shooting percentage and save percentage numbers enough to convince you to win their eighth straight playoff home game on Monday night? That's for you to decide.

You can track Iain's bets on Betstamp here.