Hurricanes win another overtime playoff game, and late drama appears to be in their DNA
It’s out there, so close you can sense it, feel it, maybe even reach out and touch it. There’s magic in the air when the Carolina Hurricanes are in the playoffs, especially at home, more and more of it the longer the game goes, the higher the stakes.
It transcends games and generations. It’s woven into their DNA. It flows through Jesper Fast, scoring the overtime winner to eliminate the New Jersey Devils. It flows through Freddie Andersen, who has now won two straight series clinchers after being scapegoated for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ failures, a franchise that lacks — and so desperately wants — everything the Hurricanes have.
Only eight times in the past 21 years have the Hurricanes made the postseason. In five of those eight years, they have advanced to the NHL’s Final Four. Fast’s goal, a deflection of a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot on an overtime power play, gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 win over the Devils, this Game 5 the only close game in a series full of blowouts.
They not only have the best overtime record in NHL history, they have won seven overtime games in a row, a streak that doesn’t even reach all the way back to the double-overtime Game 7 win over the Washington Capitals in 2019, let alone any of the late drama in 2002 or 2006 or 2009.
But it all seems to play into it, lingering in the background. It’s woven into the DNA somewhere, whether Rod Brind’Amour is playing or captaining or coaching.
“Sorry,” Brind’Amour said. “I can’t give you any reason.”
It’s out there, though, something deep and spiritual that anyone who happens to be wearing the jersey seems to be able to tap in the most pivotal moments. When given the opportunity, when everything is on the line, the Hurricanes are somehow at their best. In Game 7s (with one very notable exception). In overtime. In the balance.
This one was decided by a puck-over-glass penalty, Jonas Siegenthaler making the critical mental mistake in overtime. The Devils held off the Hurricanes’ power play long enough for the first unit to give way to the second, and what started with a Paul Stastny faceoff win ended with Fast’s tip.
Fast won the first overtime game against the Islanders. Stastny won the second. They combined for the third of this postseason. Neither would be atop anyone’s list. But that’s the way it’s gone for this team. Big names are lost, other names step up and fill the void.
Fast missed a net so open it took more effort to miss than score, only to tip the winner past Akira Schmid, who played by far his best game of the series. Jordan Martinook recorded his 10th point of the series, second all-time for someone held scoreless in the previous series. Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin scored from the blue line, tacking on two goals to a series that was beyond dominant.
Slavin was on the ice for 13 Carolina goals in the series and only one against; he and Burns combined for 14 points. Dougie Hamilton, who Burns replaced on his right side, one year removed, had one point and was minus-10 in five games for the Devils. And speaking of former Hurricanes, Erik Haula became the first player in history to be eliminated by the same team three years in a row while playing for three different teams.
No tears were shed.
That kind of history seemed wrapped around this series, always bubbling just below the surface, and not just because the Hurricanes eliminated the Devils for the fourth straight time. They’ll play either the Maple Leafs — in a rematch of 2002 — or the Florida Panthers — in a rekindled Southeast Division Showdown, the next stop on the Paul Maurice Revenge Tour — in the Eastern Conference final for a trip to the Stanley Cup final.
The last time they made it that far, Lindy Ruff was coaching the Buffalo Sabres in their seven-game defeat to the Hurricanes in the 2006 conference finals. The current Devils coach was left once again to bemoan the height of the glass at PNC Arena. Thursday, it was Siegenthaler. In 2006, it was Brian Campbell making the same play in the third period of a 2-2 game.
The Hurricanes scored on the power play to make it 3-2 on their way to a 4-2 win and, four wins later, the Stanley Cup.
“That’s the second time in my career I’ve lost a playoff game here on the puck going over the glass,” Ruff said. “I’m going to ask them to make the glass a little bit higher.”
He didn’t mention who scored the power play goal in 2006: Brind’Amour, then captain, now coach.
Maybe that’s the common thread. Maybe it’s just in the air. Maybe it’s just in their DNA. There’s magic out there, just out of reach but exerting an inescapable gravity, guiding the puck onto Fast’s stick and the Hurricanes into the conference finals, again.
Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at tinyurl.com/lukeslatest to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post.
Luke DeCock’s Latest: Never miss a column on the Canes, ACC or other Triangle sports
This story was originally published May 12, 2023 at 12:06 AM with the headline "Hurricanes win another overtime playoff game, and late drama appears to be in their DNA."
