WASHINGTON – Washington (AP) – Surviving the initial push of an adversary confronted with elimination, the Hurricanes of Carolina marked the first thanks to Jordan Staal. In terms of the waves of the pressure that Washington’s capital worked for them, they marked late to close the series.
Andre Svechnikov scored the goal with 1:59 on the left, and Carolina beat Washington 3-1 in match 5 Thursday evening to go to the final of the Eastern Conference for the second time in three years.
“We have been in the playoffs in these kinds of matches for some time, and the guys trust our game and I think it’s the greatest thing,” said Staal, whose goal was his first of the playoffs. “When you believe in what you are going to do, it will work, it becomes calmer and more coherent than, in the end, if we continue to do what we are going to, we will win the game and it seems that the guys have done this.”
The Hurricanes went to 10-5 in potential closing matches in seven trips in playoffs with coach Rod Brind’amour. They will face Florida in a revenge match of the East 2023 or Toronto final in a 2002 reminder, and the panthers are up 3-2 with the possibility of eliminating the Maple Leafs on Friday evening.
“We have already been in the conference final, and we know what will happen there,” said Svechnikov. “It will not be easy there and we will see against who we are going to play, but it’s time for us to take a small relaxed song and prepare for the next games.”
They are able to play more games thanks to Frederik Andersen stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced, including some of Alex Ovechkin and a chance to score a grade-a by Pierre-Luc Dubois at the start of the third period when the score was equaled. Then, after a donation with Sean Walker, Svechnikov’s shot crossed Logan Thompson from a bad angle to advance Carolina.
Seth Jarvis sealed her with an empty goal with 26.1 seconds to play.
The capital season is over despite an unreported goal from Beauvillier and some important stops from Thompson among his 18, although the two goals he authorized were not pretty.
“Credit to Freddie Andersen: I thought he was the best goalkeeper this series,” said Thompson. “I think I could have been better and have made a few stops in Raleigh and certainly tonight.”
Washington started hard, obtained some quality score chances but could not go through a tight verification defense to extend the series.
“It was tight there,” said coach Spencer Carbery. “I really liked what we did tonight. Not doing enough.”
Carolina would have an advantage at home against Florida and would open on the road if it was Toronto.
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AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
