RALEIGH, N.C. — Andrei Svechnikov shed his swimsuit jacket, grabbed the highest of the siren along with his left hand and began turning the crank along with his proper. Faster and sooner he went, placing his whole physique into sounding the “storm warning” asserting the Carolina Hurricanes’ cost onto the ice in entrance of a roaring dwelling crowd.

It was all of the 23-year-old star ahead might do to assist his staff open the Stanley Cup playoffs as he recovers from knee surgical procedure.

“Right now, you’re watching and you just want to go out there and play hockey,” he mentioned Monday night time throughout Carolina’s 2-1 win towards the New York Islanders that opened a first-round playoff collection. “It’s been tough. It’s part of our life and my life as well. You’ve just got to stay patient. I’m going to have lots of time.”

Svechnikov, a former No. 2 general draft choose who signed an eight-year take care of the staff in August 2021, has been a fixture for the Hurricanes’ present five-year playoff run. He’s a bodily ahead bringing dimension and scoring punch as a top-line performer, and he’s proven aptitude with lacrosse-style objectives by scooping up the puck from behind the web and wrapping across the pipes to jam it previous the goalie.

Losing him is a giant blow contemplating he scored 30 regular-season objectives final 12 months and had 23 in 64 video games this 12 months. It comes amid considerations in regards to the staff’s lack of general scoring depth that has factored into earlier-than-expected postseason exits the previous two years.

He injured his proper knee March 11 in a house loss to Vegas. The staff initially mentioned he can be out indefinitely and had hoped for a greater analysis earlier than asserting March 14 that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

But Svechnikov pointed again to a 2020 harm as an element from the Toronto bubble after the game returned following the COVID-19 pandemic stoppage. In Game 3 of a first-round collection towards Boston, Svechnikov went down when his proper leg twisted awkwardly beneath him as he fell whereas jostling with the Bruins’ Zdeno Chara for place.

Svechnikov, who missed the final two video games of that collection loss, mentioned he had a torn medial collateral ligament and a slight tear to his ACL in addition to a sprained ankle from that incident.

He was greeted Monday night time with a rousing pregame cheer and ovation from towel-waving followers, with Svechnikov waving and patting his coronary heart in acknowledgment.

“I’ve been feeling that love the last four weeks to be honest,” he mentioned, noting neighbors have come by to deliver cookies as he recovers.

As for that mini-workout on the siren, it wasn’t as straightforward because it appeared.

“I don’t know, you tell me,” he mentioned when requested how he thought he did. “I think very good. But I was going and my shoulder got tired. I was (ready) to stop a couple of times. But it took a while. So it was fun.”

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