Hurricanes’ ‘Quickie’ makes Fast work of Devils, making up for blunder with OT winner
Jesper Fast couldn’t believe it, and certainly did not want to see it again.
The Carolina Hurricanes forward had an open net and a sure goal Thursday in the first period of Game 5 of their playoff series with the New Jersey Devils. Goalie Akira Schmid was caught out of position, Fast was unchecked, the puck sitting in front of him and …
He missed.
Fast’s half-fanned on the puck, which sailed over the cage. The PNC Arena crowd groaned en masse and Fast was soon shaking his head, not taking in a replay shown on the big scoreboard overhead while several his teammates on the bench took another glance.
But all ended well — for Fast, for the Hurricanes, for those who cheer for the Hurricanes. And cheer they did when Fast had the winning goal in overtime, scoring on the power play to give the Canes a 3-2 victory, a 4-1 win in the series, and propel them into the Eastern Conference final.
In a flash, a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot was deflected by Fast in front of the crease, the puck bounding past Schmid at 7:09 of the OT.
“I know it hit me,” Fast said. “I looked back and it was in the net. Just happy emotions.”
A jubilant Fast jumped up and into the glass and soon was caught up in a mass hug. It was more of the same in the postgame Storm Surge, as Fast again was swarmed.
That Fast had the winner should not be a surprise. This has been a Hurricanes team that seemingly has had a different hero each night, each game in the playoffs.
When forward Jordan Martinook was the first star in the Canes’ win against the Devils in Game 4, he said it could be a different guy the next game. It was — the guy the Canes call “Quickie.”
“They’re very similar players,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He’s not as vocal, or that kind of player. But that play on the ice, you see that effort every night.”
Nor was the first winner in these playoffs for the Swede, who quietly goes about his business. Fast’s overtime goal beat the New York Islanders in Game 2 of the first-round series.
Fast has been called the team’s “worker bee” by captain Jordan Staal, who centered Fast much of the season until Brind’Amour switched him to the Kotkaniemi line during the playoffs. He also gave Fast a spot on the second power-play unit a few games ago, another new wrinkle that worked.
“I’m not used to being there, but I’m happy he put me there and I just have to take advantage of the opportunity,” Fast said of his power-play time. “I’m not doing too much of the work. I’m just trying to be in front of the net and screen the goalie.”
That’s where he was when Kotkaniemi got off the shot from the right circle. He was planted in front, in Schmid’s line of sight.
Fast was asked after the game if he was the team’s “secret offensive weapon.”
Fast smiled, saying, “Oh, I don’t know.”
To which defenseman Brent Burns, sitting to his left, flashed his gap-toothed smile and quickly said, “Yes.”
Fast said he had a “weird feeling” going into the overtime. He had the open-net miss early. But he also was looking at an open net in the third when Kotkaniemi took the puck from Schmid behind the net. Fast was in position to score but had Devils center Michael McLeod putting a stick on his stick and denying him.
“I had missed two good opportunities and thought the next one will go in,” Fast said. “I’m just happy I got a little touch of that one.”
And the Canes advanced. They’ve done it without power forward Andrei Svechnikov, lost to a knee injury late in the regular season, and then forward Teuvo Teravainen, who broke his left hand in the second game of the playoffs against the Islanders.
They’ve had to juggle their goalies, leaning on Antti Raanta in the first series and Frederik Andersen in the second. They may have to do it again in the next round, against either Florida or Toronto.
In Brind’Amour’s first year as coach, the Hurricanes reached the Eastern final. There has been some playoff heartbreak since, including a Game 7 loss on home ice to the New York Rangers in the second round last year. But here they are again.
“I’m just really proud of the group,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s it. I’m just an old guy sitting behind the bench and just watching this and enjoying watching how hard everybody is working together. It’s a great group.
“We’re stacking memories here and they’re giving them to me, too. So it’s pretty special.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Hurricanes’ ‘Quickie’ makes Fast work of Devils, making up for blunder with OT winner."
