The strongest playoff signal is tighter discipline, not automatic chaos. For shots, the cleanest recurring correction is more skepticism on away-team overs than on home-team overs.
Betting-suggestion layer only: the raw card projection stays raw, but playoff shot fair odds already use 70% of historical replay drag by side and seed. away lower-seed -5.5%; away top-seed -6.2%; home top-seed -4.5%; home lower-seed +0.4%
Carolina Hurricanes @ Vegas Golden Knights
Context verdict
split-series Game 3 for the lower-seed home team is a mild fade-home side spot, not a strong pace spot
What to do with the model
keep shots near baseline and use the playoff layer only as a small anti-home side tiebreaker
Why this can break baseline
the signal survives on home win rate, not on a giant shots or total-goals distortion
Playoff betting-adjusted number: Carolina Hurricanes 28.2 | Vegas Golden Knights 22.7 | total 50.9