WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Hurricanes knew they would have to lean on their veterans to eliminate the Washington Capitals on Thursday night and reach the Eastern Conference final.
It just feels a little surreal that Andrei Svechnikov, still only 25 years old, is now one of those grizzled playoff performers.
Svechnikov’s bad-angle goal with 1:59 left in regulation broke a low-scoring tie, giving him eight goals — four in each of the first two series —this postseason and advancing Carolina to the third round of the playoffs with a 3-1 win over Washington at Capital One Arena.
“I just try to go out there and enjoy every game and have fun and try to help my team somehow win games,” Svechnikov said. “Hopefully I’m going to continue doing that. But I’m here, and I’m super excited we’re going to the next round. It’s not going to be easy, we know that.”
There were no guarantees Svechnikov would be this kind of difference-maker when the postseason began. Pegged as a 40-goal, 100-point player when he was taken second overall in the 2018 draft, Svechnikov combined for 39 goals and 100 points over the past two seasons as he came back from a knee injury.
Even his coach, Rod Brind’Amour, has been hoping for this version of Svechnikov.
“I think all year we’ve been kind of waiting for that Andrei,” he said. “And still, we got through the regular season, but it was like — you watch him every night. Tonight, that goal is not even a great goal. But he had a lot of other ones, off the bars and posts. So I think that one, he deserved it just from this play all series.”
Brind’Amour knew precisely what to expect from Jordan Staal.
The Carolina captain helped suffocate the Capitals all series, with Washington managing just seven goals in the five games.
But Washington came out desperate to start Thursday’s game, feeding off a crowd that was hoping a magical season that saw Alex Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky’s goal record and the team finish atop the Eastern Conference had enough left to claw back into the series.
Staal quickly silenced Capital One Arena by scoring with a perfectly placed shot over the right shoulder of Logan Thompson (18 saves) for his first goal of the postseason and a 1-0 Carolina lead just before the midway point of the opening period.
“I go back, what, seven years ago in this building: Who got the goal that we needed in Game 7?” Brind’Amour reminisced after the game. “That’s Jordan Staal.”
It wasn’t just that Staal scored a key goal. When the Capitals answered Carolina on a great individual effort by Anthony Beauvillier to knot the score 1-1 just over three minutes later, Staal and linemates Jordan Martinook and William Carrier seemed to keep the Hurricanes on the rails as Washington pushed for the go-ahead goal during the final two periods.
“We just try to move the needle,” Staal said. “Get it moving forward, start getting it toward their net and just find ways to create some momentum and outchange them, just basically play the game that we want to play.”
The Hurricanes also had Frederik Andersen (18 saves) as a last line of defense. The veteran goalie, run out of Toronto and blamed for Maple Leafs playoff failures that still haunt that franchise four years later, allowed just six goals in the series and boasts a .937 save percentage and 1.36 goals-against average while winning seven of nine decisions so far this postseason.
“I think we’re doing a good job throughout these playoffs of trusting our game and not really getting too worried or getting too far away from our game plan even if it’s not really going our way for a bit,” Andersen said.
The collective defense opened the door for Svechnikov to benefit from a chance created by a play in Carolina’s zone.
Defenseman Sean Walker, who logged a team-high 23 minutes as the Hurricanes leaned on their five veterans with rookie Alexander Nikishin making his NHL debut, got a stick on an Ovechkin shot with just over two minutes left.
Walker then made an exit pass to Seth Jarvis and joined the rush up ice. Jarvis crossed the Washington blue line and passed right to Svechnikov, who quickly returned the puck to Walker as the trailer.
Walker one-touched a pass back to Svechnikov, who shot from the bottom of the right circle and found a way to get the puck through Thompson.
“I thought I was going to have some more time,” Walker said, but it didn’t work out like that, so I just passed it back and, honestly, I don’t know where the puck went, even.”
Jarvis added an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining to seal the win and send the Hurricanes into the NHL’s final four for the third time in seven years under Brind’Amour.
“I think we do have guys that have been through this for many years and together, and I think that’s important,” Brind’Amour said. “But we did add a bunch of new guys too, and I think they all came in and really just bought into what we’re trying to do as a group.
“And I think you see it by the results.”
Notes: Nikishin, subbing for the injured Jalen Chatfield, played 10:33 in his debut, finishing with two shots on goal, four shot attempts and a minor penalty. … Carolina won 39 of 53 faceoffs, including Jesperi Kotkaniemi winning all five of his draws. … Svechnikov has 23 goals in 61 career playoff games. … Sebastian Aho was credited with a career-high seven hits.
