*Photo from the New York Daily News*
Carolina wins series 4-1
This series ended rather fast. Ok, puns aside, Jaccob Slavin scored, Jesper Fast scored the winning goal, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night in Raleigh.
With the home win, the Hurricanes knocked off the Devils in 5 games, advancing to the eastern conference finals, one step from the Stanley Cup Finals. 6 different skaters scored for the Hurricanes, who went a perfect 3-0 at home this series.
Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of the series win that "I'm just really proud of the group. I'm just an old guy sitting behind the bench, just watching this and enjoying how hard everyone is working and playing together. It's a great group."
Dawson Mercer scored the only goal of the first period, making it 1-0 Devils on his 3rd goal of the playoffs. Just 50 seconds into the second period, Slavin found the back of the net for the Hurricanes, tying the score 1-1. Timo Meier added a goal 7:15 into the period, making it 2-1 Devils with a power play goal.
In the final minute of the second, the Hurricanes tied the game again. It was Brent Burns who got it done, making it a 2-2 game with an unassisted goal, his second of the playoffs. Eventually, the game went to overtime. Fast scored the winning goal, deflecting a shot in on the power play 7:09 into overtime.
Fast said of his goal that "I felt it and I looked back and it was in the net, so just a lot of happy emotions. I had a weird feeling going into overtime. I missed two kind of good opportunities, so I felt like the next one would go in. Just happy I get a little touch on that one."
Drawing the start for the Hurricanes was once again Frederik Andersen, who got all the starts in the series. Andersen made 27 saves on the 29 shots he saw from the Devils, giving him a .931 save percentage in the win.
Getting the start in goal for the Devils was Akira Schmid, with the team once again changing goalies. Schmid turned aside 36 out of the 39 shots on goal that the Hurricanes had, recording a .923 save percentage.
Devils forward Jack Hughes said of the loss that "I think we let a couple of the games slip away from us, and we did the same thing in the Rangers series but found a way to battle back. We got away from our game in certain periods, and it just slipped away from us and next thing you knew we dug ourselves a hole. So, we had a couple good efforts in this series, but just not good enough."
Up next, the Hurricanes await the winner of the Panthers-Maple Leafs series in the eastern conference final, with games one and two at home for the Hurricanes. The Devils enter the offseason as they reload for another shot at the cup next year.
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