NEW YORK — The Carolina Hurricanes are making a behavior of profitable no less than one postseason sequence. This time they did it whereas lacking some key gamers.
Paul Stastny scored six minutes into time beyond regulation Friday evening and the Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 6 to maneuver on to the second spherical for the third straight yr and fourth within the final 5.
In that stretch, they gained a preliminary spherical sequence within the 2020 playoff bubble earlier than shedding within the first spherical. It made Rod Brind’Amour the third head coach in NHL historical past to get a playoff sequence win in every of his first 5 seasons.
For Brind’Amour, the newest sequence win was made much more spectacular with the Hurricanes enjoying with out injured stars Max Pacioretty, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.
“It was tough, it was definitely a grind, there’s no doubt about that,” the coach mentioned. “Give the guys a lot of credit, especially with what we’re missing. It’s hard to believe we’re missing three All-Star players in my opinion. We’re still finding a way to do it. That says a lot about what’s left in there.”
In their absence, Sebastian Aho had 4 targets and three assists – together with the tying rating within the third interval of Game 6. Stastny scored thrice, and Stefan Noesen, Seth Jarvis and Jesper Fast every had two.
The Hurricanes had two time beyond regulation wins and restricted the Islanders to fifteen targets within the sequence – together with a five-goal outburst in New York’s win in Game 3. Antti Raanta began the primary 5 video games and had a 2.59 goals-against common and .906 save share. Frederik Andersen returned for the primary time since April 13 to start out Game 6 and stopped 33 photographs within the series-clinching win.
Carolina additionally went 17 for 18 (94%) on the penalty-kill, for the best share in a playoff sequence in franchise historical past.
“If you look at the games we won, whether goaltending stole a game for us, our top line scored, our second line scored, our checking line shut them down, we’ve been like that all year,” Stastny mentioned. “We’ve had different guys step up different times. Obviously Aho has been our top guy and we lean on him. (Jordan Staal) and his line is unbelievable, whether they’re on the scoresheet or not, they did a good job of shutting down their top line.”
Now the Hurricanes get some relaxation whereas awaiting their subsequent opponent, the winner of the sequence between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. The Devils lead 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Saturday evening.
While the Hurricanes have superior within the postseason the earlier 4 years, they haven’t moved previous the second spherical since reaching the convention finals in 2019, after they beat Washington and the Islanders within the first two rounds.
“It’s a big win for me because just how we did it and what we had to fight through to get it done,” Brind’Amour mentioned. “No one’s going to remember it if we don’t continue on and we know that. But we have to take time to enjoy it.”
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