RALEIGH — Trailing by three goals before half of the first period was over, it looked like the Carolina Hurricanes were making a return trip to Newark.
The Hurricanes, however, needed fewer than six minutes in the second period to tie the game, and Sebastian Aho’s second power play goal of the game at 4:17 of the second overtime gave Carolina a 5-4 win in Tuesday’s Game 5 to close out the team’s first round series against the New Jersey Devils at Lenovo Center.
“Some teams would just kind of pack it in and say, ‘We’re down 3-0, and we would have a 3-2 lead after this game,’” Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake said. “But that’s just not the way we are.”
With Devils forward Dawson Mercer serving a four-minute penalty after high-sticking Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Aho’s one-timer from the right circle off a Shayne Gostisbehere feed beat Jacob Markstrom to send the Hurricanes into the second round of the postseason.
“I blacked out for a second there,” Aho said. “The crowd goes nuts and guys are jumping on you. It’s unreal.”
The goal came after Carolina dominated the first overtime but could not beat Markstrom (49 saves), who recovered from a shaky second period to keep the Devils’ season alive.
“That was one of the better goaltending performances I’ve witnessed,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Markstrom’s first overtime.
The Hurricanes outshot New Jersey 14-3 in the first overtime session and 54-35 for the game, pounding away at the battered Devils, who were without three regular defensemen and star forward Jack Hughes.
“I liked our overtime a lot,” Hurricanes rookie Jackson Blake said. “We dominated, pretty much, for the most part.”
The start of the game, however, indicated the series would be headed back north for a Game 6.
The visiting Devils scored three times in the first 10 minutes, capitalizing on Carolina’s mistakes and a rusty Pyotr Kochetkov (29 saves) to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Longtime Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce, who signed with New Jersey last offseason, assisted on each of the Devils’ first two goals to give the visitors a multigoal lead just 5:31 into the game, with Mercer and Timo Meier staking the visitors to a 2-0 lead.
The Devils’ cushion got bigger when, with Carolina forward Eric Robinson just exiting the penalty box after serving an interference penalty, Stefan Noesen redirected a Simon Nemec shot past Kochetkov just before the midway point of the opening period.
“We had to just reset the way that we played,” Brind’Amour said. “Trash that period. Let’s try to get back in the game. That was kind of a message. Let’s see what can happen.”
Carolina needed only a handful of minutes in the second period to claw its way back in.
Taylor Hall struck first, poking the puck in after Logan Stankoven’s one-timer trickled through the pads of Markstrom at 1:46 of the second.
Then Blake circled the Devils’ net and caught Markstrom leaning for a pass, and the Carolina rookie snuck a shot in on the short side at 4:01.
“He probably saw (William Carrier) in the slot a little bit, so he’s probably, I wouldn’t say cheating that but knew that that was a potential option,” Blake said of his first career playoff goal. “Honestly, I kind of just shot it. I got pretty lucky.”
Ninety-nine seconds later, Andrei Svechnikov — who had five shots on goal in the Hurricanes’ drab first period and a career-high nine in the game — took a shot from above the circles and scored for his fifth goal of the series at 5:40 of the second.
“I don’t want to say we forgot what it was like,” Brind’Amour said of Svechnikov reemerging in the opening series. “We kind of got used to — just, he went through a stretch there where it was like, ‘eh,’ and then now it’s like, there it is. That’s the guy that we all love, right?”
The wild second period — Nico Hischier reestablished a one-goal Devils lead at 7:26 before Aho drew a penalty to create a 5-on-3 power play that he scored on at 11:27 — gave way to a less eventful third. Markstrom made 16 saves, his best on a three-shot sequence with just over a minute left in regulation — while Kochetov stopped eight shots, five of which came on New Jersey’s two third period power plays.
For the series, Carolina’s penalty kill was a perfect 15 for 15, while their power play converted 6 of its 19 opportunities.
“We obviously scored big goals in the series,” Aho said of the team’s power play, “and you gain a little bit of confidence.”
Now the Hurricanes await their second round opponent — either the Eastern Conference’s top seed, the Washington Capitals, or the upstart Montreal Canadiens. The Capitals lead the series 3-1 heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 in D.C.
“The mental break will be good, but physically too,” Brind’Amour said. “Everybody’s banged up. So hopefully a few extra days will help the group.”
Notes: Aho had the seventh three-point game of his playoff career, and four have come in overtime games. … Jordan Martinook was credited with a career-high 10 hits. His previous high was eight on March 19, 2019, against the Penguins, and his high this season was four. … Devils captain Nico Hischier took 47 faceoffs, winning 23.
