Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho scored at 4:17 of double overtime to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Lenovo Center on Tuesday night.
"Love the fight in our team," Keefe said. "I thought we competed hard."
Dawson Mercer scored his second goal of the series 3:46 into the first period. The Devils bombarded Pyotr Kochetkov's crease, causing chaos when the puck crossed the goal line.
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead two minutes later when Brett Pesce found Timo Meier, who scored in back-to-back games and is on a three-game point streak. It marked Pesce's second primary assist.
As the Devils' first power play expired, Stefan Noesen extended his team's lead to 3-0. It was a classic Noesen goal, a net front tip-in.
In the first five minutes of the second period, Carolina tied the game, with Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake, and Andrei Svechnikov scoring to make it 3-3.
Nico Hischier regained New Jersey's lead less than two minutes later. It was the first goal that the third line contributed to. Noesen picked up the secondary assist, and Paul Cotter had a beautiful pass to Hischier, who came off the bench.
Aho capitalized on a five-on-three at 11:27 of the middle frame with Tomas Tatar and Erik Haula in the penalty box to tie the game at 4-4.
In overtime, the spotlight was on New Jersey's goaltender Jacob Markstrom. The Hurricanes outshot the Devils 14-3, and the 35-year-old was phenomenal, leading his team to double overtime.
"Had a push in the first overtime, and he made some unbelievable saves," Meier said. "Not just this game but through the whole series."
Mercer was called for a double minor a little over a minute in double overtime against Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Aho scored the series-winning goal with one minute remaining on the Hurricanes' four-minute power play.
"Our team fought, man," Keefe said. "We came out of Game 1, it didn't go well. That was our worst game of the series, and we lost (Hughes) and (Dillon) in Game 1. We knew at that time they wouldn't be back. Our guys gave everything they had. We were on fumes in overtime. (Markstrom's) battling. There was a path there for us to win. Came close to it today."
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