Winning a road game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is never easy. Just ask the Carolina Hurricanes, who struggled winning away from the Lenovo Center in past years.
After two thrilling wins over the New Jersey Devils in Raleigh, the Canes continued their opening-round series in Newark on Friday, April 25.
New Jersey found itself in desperate need of a victory, while Carolina had a golden chance to, essentially, put the series away.
The Canes came back from a 2-goal deficit in the third period, but lost 3-2 to the Devils two minutes into the second overtime period. In order to retain series momentum, Carolina now has to win Game 4 on Sunday.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the Canes’ Game 3 loss, in which they showed plenty of fight late, after largely striking out offensively through the first two periods.
Andersen lets in bad-angle goal after otherwise strong night, Carolina loses in second OT
Starting goalie Freddie Andersen was a major reason the Canes won Games 1 and 2, with head coach Rod Brind’Amour electing for his seasoned veteran over Pyotr Kochetkov.
Andersen was also a major reason Carolina stayed in Friday’s game against New Jersey, saving 34 shots, including the Top Play on SportsCenter’s Saturday morning Top 10.
Unfortunately, Andersen let in a bad-angle goal that gave the Devils a 3-2 overtime win on Friday night. New Jersey defenseman Simon Nemec skated into his team’s offensive zone, fired a wrister from the right circle that bounced off Andersen’s arm, then into the net to send Prudential Center into jubilation.
The Devils appeared to run away with Friday’s game, taking a 2-0 lead, thanks to a first-period goal from Nico Hischier and third-period tally from Dawson Mercer.
Carolina quickly struck back midway through the third period, tying the game on powerplay goals from Seth Jarvis and Sebastain Aho. The Canes’ powerplay is typically amongst the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ worst units, so this was an encouraging sign to see.
When do the Canes play next?
Carolina stays in New Jersey for Game 4 on Sunday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m. The Canes then return to Raleigh on Tuesday, April 29 for Game 5, with puck drop time still TBD.
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