RALEIGH — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour often talks about moments, players making memories together that will last a lifetime.
Brind’Amour has been a part of most of those Hurricanes’ memories, and what happened Monday at PNC Arena — with the Hurricanes rallying from three goals down and blindsiding the Islanders with two goals in nine seconds to turn a deficit into the resulting 5-3 win and a 2-0 series lead over the shellshocked visitors — will go down as one of those moments.
Jordan Martinook, the ember that often ignites Carolina’s fire, used the momentum from Sebastian Aho’s tying goal — with Frederik Andersen (9 saves) on the bench for an extra attacker with 2:15 remaining in the third period — to emblazon a memory of his own.
After Aho’s redirection of an Andrei Svechnikov shot tied the game 3-3, Martinook chugged in on the ensuing faceoff — “I don’t really know how to describe it,” Martinook said of the emotions after Aho’s tying goal. “You get a whole, like juice that hits you.” — knocked Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson aside and stuffed the puck past a disoriented Semyon Varlamov (34 saves) to give the Hurricanes an improbable lead.
TWO GOALS IN 10 SECONDS TO TAKE THE LEAD
IT'S PANDEMONIUM IN RALEIGHWOOD pic.twitter.com/gSrIHBGnGz
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) April 23, 2024
Martinook’s goal — a new memory that will live forever in Hurricanes lore — was oddly reminiscent of three other memories Brind’Amour had a part in.
The first was his winning goal in Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup final when Ty Conklin misplayed a puck and failed to get back to his net for an eerily similar stuff-in.
The other two were post-goal celebrations that mirrored Martinook’s: Scott Walker’s overtime winner in Game 7 of Carolina’s 2009 second round series against the Bruins, and Brock McGinn’s Game 7 double-overtime winner a decade later that dethroned the Capitals.
“It’s a special night, for sure,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s one of those games that we’ll probably look back on for a long time. Just a special game overall, especially the way it unfolded. So yes, it’s pretty special.”
Carolina was certainly deserving.
Despite spotting the Islanders a 3-0 lead, the Hurricanes dominated much of the game — particularly the final two periods. New York was credited with just nine 5-on-5 shot attempts in the final 40 minutes to Carolina’s 62, and the Hurricanes finished the game with a 39-12 advantage in shots on goal.
Islanders captain Anders Lee pushed New York’s lead to 3-0 at 3:54 of the middle frame with a power play goal, but Carolina finally broke through later in the period with a man advantage goal of its own at 13:01 when Jake Guentzel — who also sealed the game with an empty-net goal — tapped the puck to Teuvo Teravainen for a shot into the vacant net.
“They got ahead, and I’m sure they just thought that should have been enough,” Brind’Amour said.
From there, the Hurricanes surged. Seth Jarvis scored the biggest goal of his young and blossoming career, ripping a shot from the left circle past Varlamov to cut the lead to one just past the midway point of the third period.
“For Jarvy to get that — and it was a beautiful goal — it got the place rockin’,” Martinook said.
Then with Andersen on the bench, Aho stationed himself to Varlamov’s left and was able to redirect Svechnikov’s one-timer in for his first point of the series.
“You just try to help the team to win any way you can,” Aho said.
That set the stage for Martinook to send the Islanders back to Long Island with a two-game deficit and not-as-pleasant memories.
“It’s crazy,” Martinook said. “So you just need to get home, take a deep breath and maybe rewatch it because that was a fun one.”
Notes: Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce left the game at the midway point of the second period and did not return with a lower-body injury. Brind’Amour said he would be evaluated Tuesday but Pesce is “not looking good.” … Seven Islanders and three Hurricanes received 10-minute misconducts in the final minute of the game. New York’s 83 penalty minutes were the most by a Hurricanes opponent since relocation to North Carolina, topping the previous high of 38 in Saturday’s Game 1. The only game in franchise history with more was Quebec with 123 PIMs (to Hartford’s 118) in Game 3 of their series in 1987.
