For the Carolina Hurricanes, the past three games have seen them embrace a “next man up” mentality, as Andrei Svechnikov, Michael Ferland, and Jordan Martinook have gone down with injuries. Luckily for the Canes, Andrei Svechnikov, who I talked a little bit about with Des and Rod on “The Rundown” two weeks ago, is expected to return to the Canes lineup in Game 6, which is Monday night at 7 PM, back at PNC Arena.
In Game 4, which was this past Thursday night at PNC Arena, Jordan Martinook went down as he slid into the boards during the first period. The Canes used Marty’s injury, as they skated, checked, and shot their way to a close 2-1 win that evened up their first round series against the Washington Capitals.
This game was all Canes out of the gate, as rookie Warren Foegele, who has arguably been the Canes’ best source of offense in these playoffs, scored his third goal of the series on a breakaway not even twenty seconds into the game. This got the crowd roaring, putting the record crowd of 19,202 at PNC Arena on their feet.
After this goal, however, the Canes offense lulled, as while they were able to get multiple shots off on Holtby, the Capitals woke up, pressuring Mrazek into highlight reel save-after-save. “Petr,” as us fans were chanting all night, was the man of the ice, holding his own for most of the game…
Until the second period when the Caps went on the power play. As he has been doing all throughout this series, Alex Ovechkin was camping out at the top of the circle. After the Caps managed a couple of shots early in the power play, Dmitry Orlov found Ovechkin, who hammered it home at the 9:26 mark for the Caps’ first visiting goal of the series.
The second period was one in which the Canes were largely outplayed. They looked slow, burnt out, and were not getting the quality chances that they had been in the first period. The PNC Arena crowd was noticeably quieter, as the decibel levels did not reach the same amount as in the first period.
However, the Canes finally broke through with under a minute to go, as Teuvo “Turbo” Teravainen scored on a breakaway pass from Nino Neiderreiter with 28 seconds remaining, sending the Caniacs into another frenzy, and putting some much-needed life back into the team and the crowd.
The Canes took a 2-1 lead into the third period. Only 20 minutes stood between them and evening up the series at two games apiece.
And boy, was the third period intense as ever.
Brock McGinn out hustled Matt Niskanen to Braden Holtby, where he almost extended the Canes’ lead with a backhand goal. The Caps almost got a goal on a point-blank shot from Tom Wilson with under four minutes to go. As the final seconds were winding down, Mrazek, who was named the first star, made one of his game-leading 32 saves to send the Canes onto Washington, and the fans home happy, with a 2-1 win.
It is a brand new series going into Game 5 tonight at Capital One Arena in the nation’s capital. The momentum is with the Canes. Svechnikov will see the lineup again. The Caps are right where we want them: vulnerable, and an opportunity to take a huge lead in the series.
Are you ready to Take Warning?
