Hurricanes’ Nic Deslauriers gets real on matching up against former team in postseason

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is officially set between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Philadelphia Flyers, who will face each other in the postseason for the very first time.

The Hurricanes, the top team in the Eastern Conference, were the first team to advance after a four-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators in the opening round. Meanwhile, the Flyers advanced thanks to a six-game series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, capped by a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory in Game 6 in Philadelphia.

Not only will Rod Brind’Amour, a former Flyers forward and now the head coach of the Hurricanes, face his old club, but so will forward Nic Deslauriers, who signed a four-year contract with Philadelphia in 2022 but was traded to the Hurricanes in March for a conditional 2027 seventh-round pick.

Prior to the beginning of the series, Deslauriers was asked about his feelings of facing his former teammates, with whom he had been playing earlier this season.

He responded that not only did he think the matchup was never going to happen, but that he’s got business to handle now that he’s on the other side of the matchup.

“If you would have asked me on the Trade Deadline, I would never have thought this (matchup) was going to happen,” he said, via Walt Ruff. “Good on them, but I think we’ve got business to do here and I’m on this side now.”

Deslauriers had only a single assist this season with the Flyers before being traded to the Hurricanes. So far, he’s only appeared in one of Carolina’s four playoff games and played sparingly, with not even five minutes of total ice time.

It’ll be interesting to see if he can make a difference against his old team in Round 2.

The post Hurricanes’ Nic Deslauriers gets real on matching up against former team in postseason appeared first on ClutchPoints.