Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 24: Canes won’t go away easily with Game 5 victory

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Carolina Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov
Credit: © Brad Penner

The Carolina Hurricanes looked to keep their season alive, while the Colorado Avalanche attempted to tie the series down two key players in Monday’s Stanley Cup playoff action.

Canes score four in the third period to rally and force Game 6

They say that Game 5 is the hardest game of a 3-0 series comeback when you’re the lower seed. You don’t have the home ice advantage that you do in Games 4 and 6 and then you don’t have the pressure put on the other team that you do in Game 7. This was a key game for the Carolina Hurricanes to power through and stay alive against the New York Rangers.

It’s only fitting that, like every other game in this series, it was a close one. Both teams played it quite tight through the first two periods, keeping the goals to a minimum and staying relatively even in terms of the chances, although the Canes did have the edge there. Unfortunately for Carolina, it was the Rangers that had the edge in goals again, as Jacob Trouba‘s shorthanded goal opened the scoring 6:23 into the second, and that was the only offense either team could muster up to that point.

But the Canes weren’t going to just sit idly and let their season end like that. Instead, they rallied for four straight goals in the third period from Jordan Staal, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jordan Martinook and a Martin Necas empty netter to take Game 5 by a 4-1 score, and now they’re halfway through completing the reverse sweep with the series only 3-2 for the Rangers. Necas and Jack Drury were the lone players with two points on the night, while Frederik Andersen stopped 19 of 20 shots in the win.

Johnston scores twice to give Stars 3-1 series lead

The Colorado Avalanche started Game 4 behind the eight-ball, as they found out only hours before the game that they’d be without not one, but two top end players. It was announced that Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for six months due to a failed drug test, and then right before game time, we learned that Devon Toews would miss the game due to an illness. But the good news is that Jonathan Drouin was back in the lineup. Now that they’re already down 2-1 to the Dallas Stars in the series, would that rattle the Avs even more or would it motivate them?

Unfortunately for Colorado, it was the former. Following a common trend in this series, the Stars burst out to a 3-0 lead by the time the game was barely over the halfway mark thanks to two goals from Wyatt Johnston on the penalty kill and the power play, followed by a Miro Heiskanen shot that had eyes from the point. Johnston’s two goals also further solidified a franchise record for most postseason goals scored by a Stars player before they turned 21 and the fourth-most in league history, with his birthday coming up on Tuesday.

Casey Mittelstadt scored only 71 seconds after Heiskanen to make it 3-1, and it looked like the Avs may try and storm back in yet another game. But the Stars added to their lead in the third, with Evgenii Dadonov scoring midway through the period to regain the three-goal lead, and then Sam Steel sealed the deal with an empty netter to give the Stars the 5-1 win, and now they return to Dallas up 3-1 with a chance to end the series. Johnston and Heiskanen both finished the night with three points, while Jake Oettinger stopped 25 of 26 in the win. It wasn’t all upside though, as Roope Hintz left the game with an upper-body injury.

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