WASHINGTON (WNCN) — A goal by Andrei Svechnikov with just minutes left in the third period broke a tie and helped lift the Carolina Hurricanes to an eventual 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals Thursday night and into the Eastern Conference finals.
Svechnikov’s goal with just under two minutes to play broke a 1-1 tie in Game 5 at Capital One Arena. Then with just seconds left in the game, a Seth Jarvis open-net goal sealed the win for the Canes, who won the series 4-1.
The Canes, who have now advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years, now await the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the defending champion Florida Panthers. Game 6 of that series is scheduled for Friday night, with the Panthers up 3-2. Carolina would have home ice against Florida if they win.
Jordan Staal opened the scoring with a goal less than 10 minutes into the game. But around four minutes later, Anthony Beauvillier found the back of the net for the home team to tie the game at 1-1. That score would stand until Svechnikov’s goal at the 18:01 mark of the final period.
“We’ve been in playoffs in those kind of games for quite some time, and the guys trust our game and I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Staal, whose goal was his first of the playoffs. “When you believe in what you’re going to do, that it’s going to work out, it just becomes more calm and more consistent that, eventually, if we continue doing what we’re going, we’re going to win the game and it looks like the guys did that.”
The Hurricanes improved to 10-5 in potential close-out games in seven trips to the postseason with coach Rod Brind’Amour. They will face either Florida in a rematch of the 2023 East final or Toronto in a reminder of 2002, and the Panthers are up 3-2 with the chance to eliminate the Maple Leafs as soon as Friday night.
“We’ve already been in a conference final, and we know what’s going to happen there,” Svechnikov said. “It’s not going to be easy there and we’ll see who we’re going to play against, but this is the time for us to take a relaxed little bit and get ready for the next games.”
They’re able to play more games thanks to Frederik Andersen stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced, including a few from Alex Ovechkin and a Grade-A scoring chance by Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the third period when the score was tied. Then, after a give-and-go with Sean Walker, Svechnikov’s shot got through Logan Thompson from a bad angle to put Carolina ahead.
The Capitals’ season is over despite an unassisted goal by Beauvillier and some important saves from Thompson among his 18, though the two goals he allowed were not pretty.
“Credit to Freddie Andersen: I thought he was the better goalie this series,” Thompson said. “I think I could have been better and made a couple saves in Raleigh and definitely tonight.”
Washington started strong, got a few quality scoring chances but could not get through tight-checking defense to prolong the series.
“It was tight out there,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Liked a lot of what we did tonight. Just didn’t do enough of it.”