RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 鈥� The Carolina Hurricanes have spent months regrouping quickly after losses and they have proven unshaken by the challenge of playing in hostile arenas or in next-goal-wins extra time.
Those responses in the most helps explain why they’re after losing the opener to the heading into Saturday’s Game 3 on the road. If anything, they seem to be thriving on it with a perfect record in overtime and road games in the postseason, along with avoiding consecutive losses since mid-January.
鈥淚t’s a special time of year, and it’s a really cool opportunity and experience we all get to have,鈥� goaltender Frederik Andersen said Friday. 鈥淎nd if we weren’t enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame, right?鈥�
The Hurricanes improved to 13-2 in the playoffs in dramatic fashion Thursday, rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period and split the first two games of the best-of-seven series. The thriller ended with Seth Jarvis hammering a one-timer past Carter Hart from the left side with the man advantage, a moment the Hurricanes are hoping is and the power-play unit after both have sputtered in the postseason.
The story is just as much about the Hurricanes’ ability to navigate through turbulence. The win marked marked Carolina’s 13th straight win when coming off a loss, a run that started after consecutive losses at Detroit and St. Louis on Jan. 12 and 13.
鈥淚t goes to talking about belief,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “I think we believe in the group. We鈥檙e confident in what we鈥檙e doing and how we鈥檙e doing it. We believe in our system, and we just try to go there and play our game, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e kind of been doing.鈥�
Carolina’s first postseason loss came in the Eastern Conference Final against Montreal, with the Hurricanes emerging 鈥� the longest in the playoffs in more than a century 鈥� and giving up four first-period goals in a 6-2 loss.
They responded with four straight wins, twice in overtime and then two in romps by a combined 10-1 margin .
Coming off , Carolina responded again, though it looked grim facing a 2-0 deficit and being outplayed in a second period that coach Rod Brind’Amour admitted was 鈥渒ind of a dud.”
The Hurricanes scored in the third period, the last being captain Jordan Staal’s deflection from the top of the crease on the power play.
Then Carolina shook off Vegas scoring an OT-forcing goal with 1:21 left in regulation to cash in for a second straight time on a power play with Jarvis banging in the winner. That came on a well-executed sequence with Shayne Gostisbehere 鈥� who assisted on Staal’s score 鈥� working up top.
Gostisbehere sold that he might shoot the puck enough to heighten the attention of the Golden Knights’ defenders packed in the middle, while Nikolaj Ehlers even hopped in the slot as though jumping over a shot. That kept Hart locked an extra beat in the middle as Gostisbehere instead passed to Jarvis on the left side for the winner.
Before those scores, Carolina’s power play stood at 7 for 60 (11.7%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season (24.9%).
Now Carolina is 6-0 in overtime in the playoffs, including in all four Game 2 home wins, and a 6-0 on the road.
鈥淔or almost 50 minutes there (emotions are) kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high,鈥� Gostisbehere said. “It鈥檚 a roller coaster, for sure. But it鈥檚 just managing them. We鈥檙e still human beings. We鈥檙e going to be nervous out there and have emotions, but the more you do it, the more you do anything, you get used to it.鈥�
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