06/05/26 03:02:00
Printable Page
06/05 15:00 CDT Hurricanes thriving in high-pressure playoff settings as
Stanley Cup Final shifts West for Game 3
Hurricanes thriving in high-pressure playoff settings as Stanley Cup Final
shifts West for Game 3
By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) --- The Carolina Hurricanes have spent months regrouping
quickly after losses and they have proven unshaken by the challenge of playing
in hostile arenas or in next-goal-wins extra time.
Those responses in the most pressure-packed of scenarios helps explain why
they're back to even in the Stanley Cup Final after losing the opener to the
Vegas Golden Knights heading into Saturday's Game 3 on the road. If anything,
they seem to be thriving on it with a perfect record in overtime and road games
in the postseason, along with avoiding consecutive losses since mid-January.
"It's a special time of year, and it's a really cool opportunity and experience
we all get to have," goaltender Frederik Andersen said Friday. "And if we
weren't enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame, right?"
The Hurricanes improved to 13-2 in the playoffs in dramatic fashion Thursday,
rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime and
split the first two games of the best-of-seven series. The thriller ended with
Seth Jarvis hammering a one-timer past Carter Hart from the left side with the
man advantage, a moment the Hurricanes are hoping is a breakthrough moment for
their regular-season goals leader and the power-play unit after both have
sputtered in the postseason.
The story is just as much about the Hurricanes' ability to navigate through
turbulence. The win marked marked Carolina's 13th straight win when coming off
a loss, a run that started after consecutive losses at Detroit and St. Louis on
Jan. 12 and 13.
"It goes to talking about belief," forward Andrei Svechnikov said. "I think we
believe in the group. We're confident in what we're doing and how we're doing
it. We believe in our system, and we just try to go there and play our game,
and that's what we've kind of been doing."
Carolina's first postseason loss came in the Eastern Conference Final against
Montreal, with the Hurricanes emerging from an 11-day between-rounds break ---
the longest in the playoffs in more than a century --- and giving up four
first-period goals in a 6-2 loss.
They responded with four straight wins, twice in overtime and then two in romps
by a combined 10-1 margin to close out the series.
Coming off a 5-4 loss in Game 1 to Vegas, Carolina responded again, though it
looked grim facing a 2-0 deficit and being outplayed in a second period that
coach Rod Brind'Amour admitted was "kind of a dud."
The Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals in a span of roughly five minutes
in the third period, the last being captain Jordan Staal's deflection from the
top of the crease on the power play.
Then Carolina shook off Vegas scoring an OT-forcing goal with 1:21 left in
regulation to cash in for a second straight time on a power play with Jarvis
banging in the winner. That came on a well-executed sequence with Shayne
Gostisbehere --- who assisted on Staal's score --- working up top.
Gostisbehere sold that he might shoot the puck enough to heighten the attention
of the Golden Knights' defenders packed in the middle, while Nikolaj Ehlers
even hopped in the slot as though jumping over a shot. That kept Hart locked an
extra beat in the middle as Gostisbehere instead passed to Jarvis on the left
side for the winner.
Before those scores, Carolina's power play stood at 7 for 60 (11.7%) in the
playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season (24.9%).
Now Carolina is 6-0 in overtime in the playoffs, including in all four Game 2
home wins, and a 6-0 on the road.
"For almost 50 minutes there (emotions are) kind of low, and then kind of even,
then really high, then low again, and then high," Gostisbehere said. "It's a
roller coaster, for sure. But it's just managing them. We're still human
beings. We're going to be nervous out there and have emotions, but the more you
do it, the more you do anything, you get used to it."
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
|
