05/30/26 12:40:00
Printable Page
05/30 00:36 CDT Andersen remains steady in emotional win as Hurricanes advance
to Stanley Cup Final
Andersen remains steady in emotional win as Hurricanes advance to Stanley Cup
Final
By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) --- The horn sounded to give Carolina a long-awaited Eastern
Conference Final breakthrough. And the Hurricanes immediately made their way
across the ice to Frederik Andersen in the victorious crease.
Veteran forward Jordan Martinook gave Andersen a hearty hug, tapping the goalie
on the helmet the entire time. Then came defenseman Jalen Chatfield. And coach
Rod Brind'Amour followed with a long hug and shared some words, with Andersen
pausing afterward to bend forward and collect himself before going through the
traditional handshake line.
Andersen was steady again as the Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on
Friday night in Game 5 to send the Eastern Conference's top seed on to the
Stanley Cup Final to face Vegas. It came after an emotionally wrenching 36
hours for Andersen, whose agent --- former NHL playing great Claude Lemieux ---
took his own life Thursday.
"It's been a difficult couple days, but the way we showed up today and the last
couple days for the team for each other, it's been incredible," Andersen said
in a postgame interview with TNT. "I can't talk enough good things about this
team and the way they've supported me. It's been awesome."
Andersen's play has been one of the biggest stories in the Hurricanes' return
to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since hoisting the Cup in 2006,
back when coach Rod Brind'Amour was the captain. He overcame a shaky start to
the year as waiver-wire wonder Brandon Bussi seemed ready to run away with the
starting job, had a rejuvenating stretch of playing for Denmark in the Milan
Cortina Olympics, played well down the stretch of the regular season and has
been a leveled-up version of himself throughout the postseason.
Now the 36-year-old veteran is headed to the Cup Final for the first time in
his career.
He was coming off his third shutout of the postseason with Wednesday's 4-0 road
win as the Hurricanes asserted a tighter and tighter grip on control for the
series. And that had come just two days after Lemieux had been the Canadiens'
torch bearer before Carolina's 3-2 overtime win in Game 3.
Andersen didn't mind Lemieux participating in the pregame Montreal mojo for the
franchise where he won one of his four Stanley Cups in 1986 as a rookie.
"He's like family," Andersen told North State Journal afterward.
By Thursday, news had broken of Lemieux's death, with Andersen set to start as
the Hurricanes led 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"To be honest, wasn't sure if he was going to be able to play," Brind'Amour
said. "You just don't know how that was going to shake out. Obviously, he shook
it off and battled through it. You saw the emotion after the game. Yeah, that's
a tough time for him. But he made us all proud, that's for sure."
Andersen finished with 23 saves and, as he has throughout the entire playoffs,
came up with just about every timely save the Hurricanes needed against a
skilled but desperate Canadiens team. And just as in the previous three wins,
the Hurricanes were largely on their game to play a suffocating style that
routinely won puck battles and kept the pressure on Montreal in its own end
rather than giving up chances going the other way or shots attempted at
Andersen.
He carried the shutout well into the third period before finally giving up a
goal to Cole Caufield on the power play, though with Carolina already up 5-0.
Andersen continues to lead the postseason in goals-against average (1.41) and
rank among the leaders in save percentage (.931).
"I know we were playing for him as best we could," captain Jordan Staal said.
"And it's a tough couple of days here for him. We're just family here, and we
all felt that hurt. We tried to share as best we could and playing well in
front of him as best we could do tonight.
"I thought he played unbelievable."
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
|
