The Great Dane was the key to victory Thursday night.
Through the first three games of the series, the Carolina Hurricanes have not put together 60 minutes of their game.
But the Canes have found ways to win.
And a big part of this has been the play of goaltender Frederik Andersen. And on Thursday night, Andersen was the difference in the game.
New York came out with the desperation expected from a team in a must-win situation. Before the end of the first period, Andersen had faced more shots than the entirety of Game 2.
The Islanders held the statistical advantage up and down the sheet during Game 3. New York were peppering Carolina with shots.
The shot heat map below shows New York had a lot of shots from dangerous locations:
Andersen, especially in the third period, kept the Canes in the game. New York had at least three high-chance scoring opportunities during the third period.
The Islanders had seven high-danger scoring chances, and Andersen stopped five. The Carolina defense must improve to reduce these high-danger chances, but Canes fans should be encouraged that Andersen stopped all medium and low-danger shots. Freddie is taking care of the shots expected of a goalie during the playoffs.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour recognized that the Hurricanes did not perform as they needed in the third and gave the credit to Andersen for being the primary factor in turning a 3-2 lead into a 3-2 victory:
The first two periods were okay. Fine. We knew it was coming. They were going to give everything they had and that’s exactly what happened. Freddie came up with a couple of huge saves and that’s the difference in the game.
Jordan Martinook had some of the best postgame comments about Andersen’s performance:
I don’t get impressed by him anymore because he does it every night. I’ve said it before to other guys, I don’t think I’ve seen a goalie as calm as he is in the net. We could be under siege and he is making save after save, but it just doesn’t look like he’s ever really breathing heavy. He probably is; he’s a big boy, but his demeanor in the net helps us, too. When he’s sitting back, not moving much, making saves, you look back there and you’re like, “Okay, our guy is back there, he’s doing his thing, now let’s pick it up a little bit and help him out.”
If New York was a desperate team on Thursday night, expect even more from the Islanders on Saturday afternoon. Let’s see what Andersen has in store for them.