Canes Corner

The Canes continue to struggle with the Rangers power play, yielding goals in the 3rd period and second overtime as New York rallied from a 3-2 deficit to win 4-3. Vincent Trocheck's second goal of the series slipped through Frederik Andersen at 7:24 of the double OT giving the Rangers a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 will be Thursday night at PNC Arena. Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Hurricanes as he picked up his first non-empty net goal of the playoffs. Dimitry Orlov got the other goal for Carolina. Sebastian Aho posted 3 assists. 

The Canes opened up their Eastern Conference Semi Final series with the Rangers much like they closed the last postseason series against New York, unable to control the Rangers' power play.  Mika Zibanejad's second goal of the game followed by Vincent Trochek's 4th of the playoffs each came with the man advantage and put the Hurricanes in a 3-1 hole after just 20 minutes.  During the regular season the Hurricanes had the best penalty kill in the NHL but after New York scored on each of their two power plays it left the Canes having killed just 8 of 13 shorthanded situations in the playoffs.  In 2022 the Rangers scored 7 power play goals in rallying to beat the Hurricanes after Carolina took the first two games of the best of seven series.  Jaccob Slavin, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis each scored for the Canes. Game 2 is Tuesday night in New York.

The Canes scored twice in an 8 second span of the 3rd period, breaking a 3-3 tie and giving them the cushion they needed to get past the Islanders, 6-3. The win ends the series in 5 games and advances Carolina into the Eastern Conference semi finals where they'll meet the Rangers for the second time in 3 seasons. Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov scored less than 2 minutes apart early in the first period as the Hurricanes looked like they were going to make this a runaway. But, New York scored a power play goal to make it 2-1 and bring back momentum. Then, with a little less than 7 minutes remaining in the period, the Canes were awarded a penalty shot and Evgeny Kuznetsov borught the house down with a goal that restored the Canes to a 2-goal lead. It was 3-3 entering the third, however, setting the stage for Jack Drury's first career playoff goal that gave Carolina the lead for good. Stefan Noesen followed with a tap-in goal off a lucky bounce off the boards. Seth Jarvis closed the scoring with an empty net goal for the 6-3 final. 

The Canes fell to the Islanders in double overtime as Matt Barzal's second goal of the game pushed the series to a Game 5 in Raleigh.  Barzal's deflection of a Robert Bortuzzo shot from the blueline 84 seconds into the second overtime kept the series going.  Seth Jarvis and Stefan Noesen bookended power play goals around Barzal's first goal of the series and a Jean-Gabriel Pageau power play goal as the teams were even at 2 after regulation.  Frederik Andersen and Semyon Varlamov combined for 77 saves as both goaltenders were excellent.  Game 5 is Tuesday at PNC Arena

Frederik Andersen's 29 saves highlighted the Hurricanes 3-2 win on Long Island. Andrei Svechnikov had two primary assists as the Hurricanes built an early lead and held on for the win. Carolina has a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 coming Saturday afternoon in New York. Brent Burns opened the scoring with his first goal in the last 20 games. His shot from the blue line deflected off the stick of NY defenseman Mike Reilly and got past Ilya Sorokin for a 1-0 lead in the first. About 6 minutes later, Svechnikov's pass found Dmitry Orlov who beat Sorokin for a 2-0 lead. Andrei would also set up Sebastian Aho's second goal of the series as the Canes made the score 3-1 in the middle of the second. But the story was Andersen who is now 3-0 in the postseason having allowed 6 goals on 77 shots (.922 SV%). Andrei's 4 points (4 assists) lead Carolina in scoring this postseason.    

The Canes scored 5 unanswered goals, rallying from a 3-goal deficit, to beat the Islanders, 5-3. The Hurricanes lead their best-of-7 series 2 games to none heading to game 3 on Long Island on Thursday. Teuvo Teravainen's 2nd period power play goal got the Canes on the board and then Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, Jordan Martinook and Jake Guentzel each tallied in a 4-goal, 3rd period onslaught. Jarvis' 1st of the playoffs made it 3-2 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining. Aho's 1st of the playoffs came with Carolina's net empty and 2:15 left on the clock. Martinook then hounded the Islanders on the ensuing face off and scored into a gaping net 9 seconds later for the 4-3 lead. Guentzel's empty net goal sealed the win. 

Frederik Andersen's 33 saves carried the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win as they grabbed the opening game of their best-of-7 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the New York Islanders.  Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the opening goal within the first two minutes to give Carolina the 1-0 lead.  His power play goal snapped a 14-game goal drought.  He would add an assist on Stefan Noesen's 3rd period goal that put the Canes in front to stay.  Noesen, too, ended a long goal drought having not scored in the last 20 games of the regular season.  As it turns out, the last time Noesen scored was against Montreal on the night that Andersen made his return to the lineup on March 7.  Coincidentally, that goal was also the eventual game-winner.  Martin Necas added an empty net goal to close out the scoring.  Game 2 is Monday night at PNC Arena

The Canes didn't have a lot to play for in their 6-3, season-ending loss to the Blue Jackets. They couldn't finish first and couldn't lose ground in the Eastern Conference standings, so they rested 8 starters, including half of their top 6 defenders. They also started Spencer Martin in goal, his first action since the end of February. In addition, the Canes played three rookies who just finished up their college seasons. Only real downside was the 2nd period injury to Jesper Fast who crashed into the boards and didn't return. Carolina opens up the playoffs this weekend against the New York Islanders at PNC Arena. 

The Carolina Hurricanes picked up their third straight win, 4-1, over the Boston Bruins.  The win pulled the Hurricanes within 3 points of the Rangers in the Metro as New York lost to the Islanders on Tuesday.  The win also pulled Carolina even with the Bruins for the second best record in the East and since the Hurricanes own the tie breaker if they were to finish tied in points, the Canes would have home ice in an Eastern Conference Finals meeting with Boston.  Andrei Svechnikov scored for the second straight game -- lacrosse style -- to open the scoring in the 2nd period.  Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel and Seth Jarvis also scored for the Hurricanes, with Jarvis coming shorthanded and effecitvely ending the game.  It was his 30th goal of the year.  Pyotr Kochetkov made 22 saves in the win.

Andrei Svechnikov only missed one game, but the Hurricanes had been wihtout the real Andrei for the last several weeks.  17 seconds into their game with Columbus, Andrei scored past Malcom Subban and the Hurricanes were off and running in a 3-0 win.  Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen also scored and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for his 3rd shutout since returning to the lineup at the beginning of March.