Canes enjoy sweep but save celebration for another day

For a team known for celebrations, there wasn’t much of one by the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

The Canes beat the New York Islanders 5-2 in Game 4 to sweep the second-round series and move into the Eastern Conference finals.

After a 10-year playoff absence, the Canes are halfway to putting their names on the Stanley Cup. And to celebrate, they ... did “Keiser chops” and planks?

That was the workout regimen posted on the grease board in the locker room. No word on what a Keiser chop actually is but calisthenics is the perfect Rod Brind’Amour way to celebrate.

“This is great, and we’re super excited, but there’s more,” Brind’Amour, the Canes’ first-year coach and noted workout fanatic, said. “We have to do more.”

Either Boston or Columbus awaits in the conference finals. The Canes will get the next two days off as their reward for pummeling the Isles on Friday. There’s a reason there wasn’t much celebrating by the players after the game.

“We know we’re not there,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “We’re just into the next round.”

The team’s calling card, the “Storm Surge” celebrations, have been retired, or at least put on ice. After the game, there was no cameo appearance by a heavyweight boxing champ or a round of “Duck, Duck, Goose,” just a traditional handshake line with the Islanders.

New York coach Barry Trotz channeled his inner Mike Krzyzewski when he stopped Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin to congratulate him on an outstanding series. Trotz gave the much taller Slavin a long handshake with his right hand and then a couple of chest pats with his left.

After the pleasantries, as they did after Game 6 against Washington, the Canes lined up and did raise their sticks to acknowledge the record overflow crowd of 19,495.

The NHL cameras will eventually reveal what Brind’Amour said in the locker room after the game or how the players celebrated, but by the time the media was let in the locker room, “I Can’t Go For That” by Hall and Oates was playing and the players were going through their normal post-game routine.

Unlike Major League Baseball, which celebrates with champagne in the locker room after each round, the NHL only breaks out the bubbly for the last round. Forward Jordan Martinook, who has been the social media star of the playoffs for the Canes, said there might be more celebrating later.

“We’re hockey,” Martinook said. “We’ll do what we need to do. We’ll probably go out and have a few beers tonight and celebrate. I don’t know, maybe somebody will throw a beer on their head, who knows? We’ll have some fun with it.”

But don’t expect too much fun to pop up in Martinook’s post-game video. Fatigue is one factor. This series started right after the seven-game grinder with the Washington Capitals. Now the Canes have a chance to catch their breath.

“We need a break,” Brind’Amour said.

So they get some rest and then they wait for either Boston or Columbus, whose series is tied at 2-2.

“There’s more work to do,” Faulk said.

Yes, more work. Those Keiser chops are waiting.

This story was originally published May 3, 2019 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Canes enjoy sweep but save celebration for another day."