Carolina Hurricanes Win Game 5 When you think you can take a moment, take a breath, a series can change. The moments are subtle and happen in an instant, but that's all it takes. The New York Islanders took those breaths multiple times throughout the first round series and the Carolina Hurricanes capitalized on them. But that's what good teams do and the Canes showed that they were the better team as they finished off their first New York opponent in a 6-3 win in Game 5, taking the series 4-1. "Obviously, it was tight," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Playoffs... it's one play here or there that seems to always make the difference in the game. Tonight, we were the fortunate ones to get that bounce." The start was almost as good as you could ask for from Carolina and it's what you would have expected with the team coming off of a tough double overtime loss in Game 4. The Hurricanes struck twice within the first 3:30 of the game with Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov both converting. Teravainen's goal, which came just 1:23 into the game, was a quick wrister that beat Islander's goaltender Semyon Varlamov glove-high. Seth Jarvis forced a turnover on Mat Barzal behind the New York net and the then fed his Finnish linemate for the goal. The Canes then drew a power play and Svechnikov got a bit of luck with his centering feed deflecting in off Isles defenseman Robert Bortuzzo's stick. Carolina had the chance to go up by three moments later with a puck finding Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the slot, but his shot was just an inch off and instead he rung the corner of the post and followed that up with a trip on Kyle MacLean who had gotten in all alone for a breakaway. The Isles promptly scored with Mike Reilly wiring a puck from the blueline. Like I said, almost perfect. But the Canes didn't go on the defensive and instead kept the pressure on New York and eventually that pressure led to a major moment. The Hurricanes' fourth line created a bit of chaos in the New York net, Isles defenseman Alexander Romanov put his glove over a loose puck in the crease and a penalty shot was called. In comes Evgeny Kuznetsov. And after the slowest penalty shot in NHL playoff history (exaggeration, but also maybe not), Kuznetsov got Varlamov to bite and he slipped the puck past the Russian netminder. "I almost lost the puck there," Kuznetsov said. "I've always been dreaming to have a shootout in a big moment like that. It's not often in those games and I've never had one like that before. It was a good emotions." Evgeny Kuznetsov on Game 5, Penalty Shot Carolina looked to be safely in the driver's seat from there, with a 3-1 lead and 20-4 edge in shots, but a poor second period saw that comfortability evaporate. A Jake Guentzel turnover early into the period saw New York march down the ice and Brock Nelson converted off the rush and then with the period ticking down, Frederik Andersen simply fell over. He just caught an edge, fell and Casey Cizikas buried the puck into the open net with just 21 seconds left in the period. So after all that, the game was back to tied after 40 minutes. But the Hurricanes are a resilient group. They're a group with a ton of playoff experience who knows what it takes. They don't get rattled. "We knew we kind of, I don't want to say let off the gas, but we let them crawl back into it in the second and you never want to do that especially with a team like that who can score and just with the momentum it gives them, but we have so many good veterans and they just kept us calm," said Seth Jarvis. "We never really got flustered. They made sure we knew what was at stake and we just came out in the third and executed." And soon enough, Carolina was back in the lead. Again, the Canes benefitted from a bit of good fortune after a Brady Skjei shot was blocked, but still wound up right on the blade of Jack Drury. Mr. Harvard made no mistake and put the lucky feed home for his first career postseason goal. "For a second, I looked over at their bench and I was like, 'Don't be reviewing this,'" Drury joked. "But it was a good faceoff breakout. Tony kind of called that play so I have to give him some credit and it was good to get that one in. And if you blinked after that goal, you missed another one, because just eight seconds later, Stefan Noesen gave the Canes back their two-goal lead. After a faceoff win, Skjei dumped the pick in and it took a funky bounce off the stanchion, leaving Varlamov stuck in no-man's land behind the net and Noesen all alone with a gaping net. "Don't f--k it up," Noesen said when asked what was going through his mind in that moment. "And I almost did. It was a good bounce that went our way there. Sometimes, in a couple other games, we didn't get them but that one was fortunate for us." The Hurricanes had scored their fastest two playoffs goals in franchise history just eight seconds apart, besting the previous record set three games earlier of nine seconds. "Definitely some fortuitous bounces, but our strategy and what we always talk about is getting pucks to the net," Skjei said. "Obviously some crazy stuff can happen and that's what happened there on a couple of those goals. Obviously proud of the guys and it was a great job closing out the series." Carolina locked it down from there and Seth Jarvis would seal the game with the empty netter to send the team to the second round to face the awaiting New York Rangers. "The Rangers are the best team in the league, right?," Brind'Amour said. "We know what they're about. They have immense talent, are coached really well and have good goaltending. What don't they have? We know it's going to be a tough matchup, but it would be anywhere. You're getting down to the final eight or whatever. They're all going to be tough." The Hurricanes also became just the eighth team in NHL history and the first in 24 years to win the opening playoff round in six consecutive years. "It's something to look back on maybe in the future and think, 'Oh, that's pretty good,' but we're in it right now and so it means nothing," Brind'Amour said. "It's hard because the expectation here... we're not done, but it's hard to win a playoff round. Sometimes you forget that and sometimes with the way it was being talked about like, 'Oh you guys aren't doing that well,' but we were up three games to one. But that's because of the group we have and the expectations we have. I'm proud of the group because that's a good accomplishment but obviously it's not what we're shooting for." Hurricanes, Islanders Shake Hands Following First-Round Series The only true negative to take out of the win though is the potential loss of defenseman Tony DeAngelo who took a slash to his right hand from Pierre Engvall with under five minutes to go in the game. Brind'Amour said that DeAngelo went to get X-rays done after the game but had not other update on his status. Obviously losing a second defenseman form one series would be a major blow for Carolina.
