Andrei Svechnikov’s hat trick helped the Carolina Hurricanes overcome the second-period loss of goalie Frederik Andersen to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Sunday in Newark, N.J., and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The Hurricanes, the only NHL team to win at least one playoff round in each of the last four seasons, will attempt to close out the Devils in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Svechnikov, the lone player in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history to post a hat trick in a postseason game, did it for the second time on Sunday. He scored in the opening minute of the first and second periods, and then iced the win with an empty-netter with 3:17 left in the third.
Svechnikov posted his first playoff hat trick on Aug. 3, 2020, when he scored three times against the New York Rangers in a qualifying-round game during the COVID-19 bubble tournament.
Jaccob Slavin scored in the first and Brent Burns began adding insurance by scoring with 5:46 left in the third. Burns added an assist, and Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake had two assists apiece.
Blake was asked what Carolina had to do in Game 5 to bring a quick end to the series.
“Not change anything we really did today,” Blake said. “There’s definitely a couple skits in there that I think we could have done a little better, managed better. But I think if we just play a full 60 minutes, we’ll be doing good.”
Andersen earned the win by stopping six of seven shots before he was injured with 15:41 left in the second. With the Hurricanes up 3-1, Timo Meier crashed into Andersen after a shot by Ondrej Palat sailed wide of the net.
The goalie fell into the net and Meier was initially whistled for a five-minute major, though it was overturned upon review. Andersen, who was limited to 22 games this season due to a blood clot, was replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov, who made 14 saves in his first action since April 16.
“He’s going to get checked out tomorrow,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously he wasn’t good enough to continue. That’s not a good sign. But I don’t have any other information, so we’ll know more, I guess, tomorrow, when he gets evaluated.”
Nico Hischier scored on the Devils’ final shot against Andersen 2:45 into the second. Meier, who assisted on Hischier’s goal, pulled New Jersey within 3-2 fewer than three minutes after Kochetkov entered.
“I think we capitalized early, kind of caught him — looked cold and looked like he wasn’t quite ready,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said of Kochetkov. “So we got one there. But they defend very well. They push you outside the dots, don’t give you any high-end chances, and we weren’t able to make the necessary plays.”
Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom recorded 24 saves.
–Field Level Media
