*Photo from AP News*
Carolina wins series 4-2
The Carolina Hurricans-Nashville Predators series has been filled with overtime battles. Game 6 was no different, but the result was. Dougie Hamilton scored the tying goal, Sebastian Aho scored the winning goal, and the Hurricanes defeated the Predators with a 4-3 overtime win Thursday night.
With the win, the Hurricanes advanced to the second round of the playoffs, where they will battle the Tampa Bay Lightning. The schedule for that series, including game start times, has not yet been announced by the NHL.
Brock McGinn started the scoring for Carolina, tying the game at 1-1 4:21 into the game. After Nashville took a 3-1 lead, Aho scored on the power play 13:34 into the second period, cutting the deficit to 3-2. 13:59 into the 3rd period, Hamilton scored his first goal of the playoffs, tying the game and forcing overtime. Just 1:06 into overtime, Aho scored his second goal of the night to give the Hurricanes the game 6 win, and the series win.
Hamilton said of his tying goal that "I saw their guys were tired. They had been out there for a while, and I told my teammates 'Let's run the play.' It worked out perfectly. We couldn't have done it any better. It was a huge goal for us. Happy it worked out."
Alex Nedeljkovic was superb in net once again for the Hurricanes, saving 24 out of 27 shots, including several key saves, to get the win. Nedljkovic against Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy is going to be a fun goaltending matchup in the second round.
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said of the team's gritty series win that "It's been like that all year. We're playing games that aren't great, we look like we're probably out of it and then they just get it together. You've got a special group here. I mean, I know every coach would say that about their team, but we're proving it over and over and over. That's special."
Nick Cousins got the Predators on the board 1:44 into the game, giving them a 1-0 lead early on. Mikael Granlund made it a 2-1 lead just 1:13 into the second period with his second goal of the postseason. Ryan Johansen then made it 3-1 with a power play goal 7:32 into the second, his 3rd goal of the playoffs.
Juuse Saros started in net for the Predators, stopping 27 of 31 shots across regulation and OT. The Predators saw their season end abruptly in game 6, after going on a hot streak in the second half of the season to make the playoffs, and surging back to tie the series after two multi overtime wins at home in games 3 and 4.
Granlund said of being eliminated that "I really think we gave ourselves a chance to win a hockey game again. It wasn't enough tonight and congratulations for Carolina. I'm really proud of the guys. The way we came back from the start of the season and this series, we really gave ourselves a chance to come through. But that's a really good hockey team and congratulations to them."\
The Hurricanes now move to the waiting period for their second round series against Tampa Bay to start, while Nashville moves to offseason mode.
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