Canes Corner

In our second summer(ish) chat, I riff on the 4-year contract for Jordan Staal, the potential for the Canes to bring Tony DeAngelo back to Raleigh, and elimination of special warm up jerseys as a remedy for protecting players who refuse to support "Pride" night.  

With a week before the NHL Draft, I caught up with Cory Lavalette and Sara Civian to talk about the offseason plans for the Hurricanes.  What do they need?  How will they sign some of their key players like Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei?  Is Jesperi Kotkaniemi a 2nd line center?  Will there have to be a peaceful transfer of the "C" to Sebastian Aho?  And, more...

The Florida Panthers completed a 4-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 4-3 win.  Matthew Tkachuk scored a power play goal with 4.9 seconds left for his 4th goal of the playoffs, his 3rd power play goal and his 3rd game-winner.  Paul Stastny, Teuvo Teravainen and Jesper Fast scored for Carolina in the loss.

The Carolina Hurricanes did everything Monday night except score a goal and as a result their 1-0 loss to the Florida Panthers pushed them to the brink of elimination.  Florida leads the series 3 games to none with Game 4 on Wednesday night at FLA Live Arena.  Sam Reinhart's second period power play goal was the only marker on the night and Sergei Bobrovsky's 32 saves were all the Panthers needed to move within one game of their second ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance.  Bobrovsky has now stopped 132 of 135 shots on goal in the series, a save percentage of .978.  Freddie Andersen stopped 16 of 17 Florida shots in the loss.

Matthew Tkachuk's second straight overtime goal beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 on Saturday night giving the Florida Panthers a 2-0 series lead heading back to Sunrise for Game 3 on Monday.  Tkachuk scored on the power play less than 2 minutes into overtime for the win.  But, it was probably Carolina's power play that really did in the Hurricanes.  The Canes had three chances wtih the man advantage and each started out fine, but fizzled amid a sea of poor passing.  And, in the second period, about a minute after Aleksander Barkov came out of the penalty box, he was left alone in front of the Canes' net and he beat Antti Raanta to tie the score.  Raanta made 24 saves in the loss, his second straight hard-luck loss in the playoffs.  Raanta was also in net for Carolina's 3-2 loss to the Islanders in Game 5 in the opening round.  Jalen Chatfield scored the Hurricanes only goal at 1:43 of the first period, redirecting a Sebastian Aho pass through Sergei Bobrovsky for a 1-0 lead.  Bobrovsky has stopped 100 of 103 Hurricanes shots in the series for a .971 save percentage.

For the first time in the last two playoff seasons the Carolina Hurricanes lost game one on home ice.  Matthew Tkachuk’s goal just before the death of the 4th overtime made Florida a 3-2 winner.  The two teams combined for 125 shots on goal with Frederik Andersen and Sergei Bobrovsky making 120 saves in the classic duel.  Andersen (57 saves) was at his best in the OT, making 15 Grade-A stops before Tkachuk’s game-winner.  Bobrovsky robbed so many Hurricanes that Raleigh Police considered calling in the State Bureau of Investigations (clearly a joke).  Carolina went 2 for 6 on the power play while going a perfect 3 for 3 on the penalty kill in the loss.  Game 2 is Saturday at 8:00 at PNC Arena.

At 12:51 of overtime, Jesper Fast's deflection of a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot slipped through New Jersey goaltender Akira Schmid sending the Carolina Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference Finals.  It will be the second trip to the NHL's final four in the five years Rod Brind'Amour has been behind the bench.  The goal was Fast's 5th of the playoffs after scoring 10 in 80 games this season.  It was also his second overtime goal in the postseason having ended Game 2 in the opening round series with the Islanders.  Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns each scored as well for Carolina.  Slavin's goal came in the 1st minute of the second period, while Burns' came in the last minute of the middle frame.  Burns' 2nd of the playoffs and second in as many games, tied the score at 2.  Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for his 5th playoff win and raised his save percentage to .931 in 6 games.  Carolina awaits the winner of the series between the Panthers and Maple Leafs with Florida holding a 3-1 lead heading to Friday's Game 5 in Toronto.

Martin Necas scored twice, netting both the tying goal and the eventual game-winner, as Carolina bounced back from Sunday's 8-4 loss AND an early 1-0 deficit in a 6-1 win over the Devils.  The Hurricanes now lead the best-of-7 series 3 games to 1 with Game 5 coming Thursday in Raleigh.  Jack Hughes scored early in the 1st period to give the Devils an early lead.  And that lead held up until 17:40 of the frame when Martin Necas' first of the game leveled the score.  Necas would score before the 8-minute mark of the 2nd to tie give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead and from that point the floodgates opened.  Brett Pesce, Jesper Fast and Brent Burns all scored, with the 5 goals coming in a 5:20 span of the period.  And, when Jordan Martinook ripped one off the crossbar and in with 24 seconds left in the 2nd the Canes had a 6-1 lead.  Frederik Andersen made 21 saves in the win, his 4th so far in the postseason.

It was an awful start and a feisty finish as the Hurricanes lost, 8-4, to the Devils in Game 3 of their best of seven series.  New Jersey scored 3 times in the first period, including a shorthanded goal that made it 3-0.  Then opened the second period with a 4th marker in the first minute.  So, everything that happened after that might be taken with a grain of salt.  But, Carolina scored three times while shorthanded, including a Jordan Martinook penalty shot, and got goals from Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis in the loss.  Frederik Andersen allowed the first four goals and was lifted for Pyotr Kochetkov.  Game 4 is Tuesday night in New Jersey.

Frederik Andersen stopped 28 shots, Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes dusted the New Jersey Devils, 6-1 to grab a 2-0 series lead.  Game 3 in on Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark.  After a scoreless first period, the Hurricanes scored 4 times in the 2nd period with Kotkaniemi getting an early brace.  His power play goal at 1:35 gave the Canes a 1-0 lead and then scored roughly 2 minutes later to double the score.  Jordan Staal and Martin Necas would score in the final 3 minutes of the period to make it 4-0.  Carolina got 3rd period goals from Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen to close out the scoring.  In his 3 playoff starts, Andersen has a 3-0 record with a 0.97 goals against average and a .963 save percentage.