Movin’ On! Movin’ On! The Carolina Hurricanes are moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2009!
Only needing to win one more game to advance to the next round, the Canes brought their best performance of their Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup against the New York Islanders, who were fighting for their lives. Who would come out on top?
Early on, it was the Islanders who struck first. Only 2:30 into the game, New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal gathered a rebound off Curtis McElhinney’s left pad and put it home for a 1-0 lead. The Islanders certainly looked, through the first few minutes of the game, as if they were playing for their lives.
But then, a Hurricane Warning was in effect. A category 5 hurricane hit the Islanders through the remainder of the game, as the Canes scored five unanswered goals before the Isles put one home, a garbage-time goal.
Just 2:14 after Barzal’s goal, Sebastian Aho got the Canes on the board with his fourth goal of the playoffs. After some traffic in front of Robin Lehner, Aho was able to find the bouncing puck and put it home to tie the score at 1. That would be all she wrote for the first period.
Second period. Here come the Canes. After keeping it down in the Isles’ zone early in the second, Canes’ playoff hero Warren Foegele found Teuvo “Turbo” Teravainen on the other side of the net. Turbo flicked a wrist shot that barely got past Lehner’s glove, putting the Canes in front 2-1.
A little over a minute later, the Canes brought it back down into the Isles’ zone. After Lehner saved a beautiful one-timer from Canes defenseman Brett Pesce, Canes defenseman Greg McKegg realized the play was not over, took advantage of the loose puck, and extended the Canes’ lead to 3-1 by pushing the loose puck past Lehner’s left pad.
The Isles had seen enough. Lehner, who had been automatic in the first round for them, was pulled for former San Jose Sharks goalie Thomas Greiss, who had a 5-6 record in the playoffs coming into this game.
Greiss proved to be great for the Isles, only allowing one goal. The one goal that Greiss allowed, however, proved to be costly and momentum-sucking, as the captain of our Canes, Justin Williams, put a puck through the five-hole of Thomas Greiss on a backhanded one-timer at the 11:09 mark of the second period, extending our lead to 4-1. I could not tell you the last time I saw a goal like that. Impressive!
“Sweep,” the Caniacs started chanting inside PNC Arena, as they realized the likelihood of advancing to the next round at this point. The record crowd of 19,454 was louder than it had been all playoffs. After a goal-less remainder of the second period, the score going into the third period was 4-1.
But wait, you ask, the Canes were not done scoring?
No, they were not. After several highlight-reel saves from Curtis McElhinney in the third period alone, rookie Andrei “Svech” Svechnikov put a pass from Justin Faulk past Greiss for a 5-1 lead with 4:47 remaining in the game.
The crowd was even louder than when it was 4-1. This game looked to be going to the Canes.
Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders with 1:09 left, but it was too late for them.
“CANES WIN” was played over the PA system as the Canes gathered at the blue line to thank fans for another great round. Justin Williams, after the game, said “this team is special.”
Special the Canes are, indeed. So far, they have taken down the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals, and the New York Islanders, who swept the Pittsburgh Penguins, only two years removed from a Stanley Cup title. The Canes’ sweep of the Islanders is their first-ever in franchise history in a best-of-seven series.
The Canes now await the winner of the Columbus Blue Jackets-Boston Bruins series, which is currently at 3-2 Boston via a David Pastrnak tie-breaking goal to win Game 5 for the Bruins. Game 6 of that series will be played tomorrow night at 7:00 P.M. ET at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The last time the Canes faced the Bruins in the playoffs, they beat them in a seven-game series in Boston, with the game-winner in Game 7 being a double-overtime goal from former Cane Scott Walker.
The Canes have never played the Blue Jackets in the playoffs. However, if the Blue Jackets were to come back from a 3-2 series deficit, the Canes would have home-ice advantage next round.
Regardless of who the Canes play, they look like the best team in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. I am excited to see who the Canes face next because I know it is going to be an even tougher matchup than the Islanders. The deeper the playoffs go, the tougher the matchups get.
