In order to stave off elimination on Monday night, the Carolina Hurricanes needed to accomplish something they hadn’t done in 19 years.
Win a game in the Eastern Conference finals.
Thanks to a 20-save shutout by Frederik Andersen, Carolina ended the 15-game conference-finals losing streak with a 3-0 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 4 in Sunrise, Fla.
The victory allowed the Hurricanes to remain alive for Game 5 on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C., though Carolina still trails the best-of-seven series 3-1.
Andersen, who registered his fifth career postseason shutout, did not play in Carolina’s 6-2 loss in Game 3 after surrendering nine goals on 36 shots in the first two games of the series. He had held opponents to two goals or fewer in eight of his nine appearances in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Logan Stankoven scored in the second period for Carolina. Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal added empty-net goals in the final minutes.
“We knew in the group that we had more and it showed tonight,” Stankoven said. “We’ve got to build on it.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Panthers, who came up short in a bid to sweep the Hurricanes in the conference finals for the second time in three years.
“I’m exceptionally happy with the learning opportunity,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said after the defeat. “I’m not screwing around with you. I believe that. There’s consistent things in games that we don’t love, and you cannot eradicate those.”
The Hurricanes took their first lead of the series when Stankoven scored at 10:45 of the middle period.
Florida defenseman Seth Jones tried to chip the puck through the neutral zone, but it went to Carolina rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin at the Panthers’ blue line. He made a backhanded touch pass to Stankoven coming through the neutral zone on his left.
Stankoven had room to bring the puck to the top of the left circle before blasting a wrist shot into the top of the net on the short side.
“You’ve got to give Carolina credit,” Maurice said. “They were quick, they closed the gap, blocked some shots, hustled real hard, so they played a great game for them, in terms of style.”
Nikishin, playing in his third NHL game, all in the current postseason after leaving the KHL in Russia and signing with the Hurricanes on April 11, earned his first NHL point with the assist.
“He’s been an absolute monster for us,” Stankoven said of Nikishin, 23. “It’s not easy for him coming over from overseas so quickly and getting integrated with us, so it was just a great play by him there, quick up, and it was nice to pot that.”
Florida defenseman Nate Schmidt hit the left post 58 seconds after Stankoven’s goal, but the Panthers were mostly quiet on the offensive end through the first two periods.
Florida did not have a shot on goal for a 14:38 stretch that bridged the first and second periods.
The Hurricanes briefly appeared to stretch their lead to 2-0 on a goal by Mark Jankowski with 13:29 left in regulation, but Florida successfully challenged for offside.
Aho scored an insurance goal into an empty net with 2:11 remaining, and then Staal did the same with 1:45 to go to make it 3-0.
“It was just managing the puck well,” Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said of his team’s success. “The first three games, we kept turning pucks over trying to get out of our zone, trying to get through the neutral zone. So, it’s just managing the puck well, and that gives us better offense because we’re getting the puck in, but then on the defensive side, we’re not giving them any chances that they don’t need.”
The Panthers were without forward Sam Reinhart for the second straight game due to a lower-body injury. Reinhart led Florida in goals (38) and points (81) during the regular season.
The Panthers came in 4-for-9 on the power play in the series but went 0-for-4 in Game 4.
“Our power play right now is slightly disjointed,” Maurice said. “When you lose Sam Reinhart, he’s really kind of a big piece of that.”
–Field Level Media
