For the first time this postseason, the Washington Capitals are trailing by a game, having lost their opening game of the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, May 6.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin scored early into the extra session, giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Washington’s Aliaksei Protas initially gave his club a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the playoffs, only to have Carolina’s Logan Stankoven knot the score with his third of the playoffs midway through the third period.
Hurricanes Keeping It All Business Despite Game 1 Overtime Victory
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, attempting to lead the franchise back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 19 years when he captained the club in 2006, liked Carolina’s response to initially trailing by a goal.
“I thought our guys played hard every shift, right from the start of the game. I liked how we were playing,” he said. “Obviously, we were down, but there’s a certain game plan. Both teams have it. I thought we were on it tonight. Sometimes you don’t get rewarded, but tonight we did.”
Meanwhile, Slavin, the overtime hero, admitted that he didn’t know that his fateful shot had beaten Capitals goalie Logan Thompson until he saw his teammate Jordan Staal celebrate.
“Puck came up to me at the point there, and I was just trying to get it to the net,” he said. “I knew we had some numbers at the net, but I didn’t know it went in until I saw Staalsy coming with his arms up at me.”
Hurricanes Players, Coaches Loved Frederik Andersen’s Performance
Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, who was injured in Game 3 of their opening-round series against the New Jersey Devils, returned to the crease and made 13 saves on the 14 shots that he faced from the Capitals.
His performance, while not overly busy, still drew rave reviews from his teammates and coaches.
“It seems easy,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s been here long enough [to know] you got to stay focused. And I thought he did a good job.”
“You could tell he was on it,” Brind’Amour continued. “That was a huge one for us.”
Stankoven, who scored the tying goal midway through the third period, said that Andersen bailed them out whenever they experienced a rare defensive lapse.
“He’s huge for us,” Stankoven said. “We’re trying at the other end to create offense, and when we do give up chances or there are breakdowns, he’s there for us. And he’s been great all playoffs for us, so we’re going to need him to keep playing like that.”
Andersen will once again be named the starter by Carolina for Game 2 on Thursday, May 8. He’s already earned himself another contract extension through next season, which was agreed to between playoff rounds.