How the Hurricanes fought their way to another playoff win over the Predators
There are pretty wins and gritty wins in hockey. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, gritty usually wins.
The Carolina Hurricanes won that way Wednesday, beating the Nashville Predators 3-0 in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
Sebastian Aho scored twice, Warren Foegele added a third and rookie goalie Alex Nedeljkovic had 32 saves in his first career playoff shutout. Nedeljkovic, sensational much of the night, was named the game’s first star and had fans chanting, “Ned! Ned!” after the game.
“You can tell he has confidence between the pipes,” Aho said of Nedeljkovic.
Aho’s power-play score in the first period was the game’s first goal and the only goal for much of the game. Aho, open in the right circle, took a pass from Andrei Svechnikov and beat Juuse Saros with a one-timer at 8:03 of the first.
Aho would score an empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation, and Foegele then added another after Saros returned to the net.
The Canes spent a lot of time skating to the penalty box as Predators had seven power plays. They also spent a lot of time successfully killing off those penalties even with defenseman Jaccob Slavin, one of their most effective penalty killers, missing the game.
“The first two period were no flow, not a very good game, I felt,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Couldn’t get any traction.”
While they had to play shorthanded, the Canes at times were better 4-on-5 than 5-on-5 — or what little 5-on-5 time there was. Carolina had multiple shorthanded offensive chances as Sebastian Aho and Vincent Trocheck both tested Saros.
“All the guys on the PK did a great job,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “The No. 1 star was probably Ned. He was a stud tonight To have a good PK you have to have your goaltender playing well, and he did phenomenal tonight.”
Nedeljkovic had to make his share of big saves. He gloved a heavy shot by Luke Kunin in the third period and later denied Mattias Ekholm to keep it 1-0.
With Slavin out with a lower-body injury that has slowed him the past few weeks, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour relied heavily on Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton, who piled up the minutes.
“I figured with (Slavin) being out, I’d go up a bit in ice time,” Skjei said. “The PKs were a big part of that reason. It was a solid game. Once you get into the flow of the game, you’re not really thinking about ice time.”
The playoff series now shifts to Nashville, with Game 3 set Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.
A 20-minute slugfest
The second period, meanwhile, turned into a slugfest as the Canes maintained their 1-0 lead from Aho’s first-period goal.
The Canes were called four penalties and the Preds three in a long second. But the pushes and punches and high sticks and elbowing were innumerable and continued through a chippy second period.
At one point, defenseman Matt Benning fell on the Canes’ Jordan Martinook beside the Nashville net and would not let Martinook up. When Martinook finally got to his feet the gloves came off. Martinook again fell and Benning kept throwing punches — an ugly scene as many were in the period.
“It’s playoff hockey,” Skjei said. “Whenever you play a team four to seven times in a row, it’s going to get chippy, and I thought we did a good job answering the bell to the chippiness and physical play and we just have to keep that going.”
First period: Aho scores
The Canes were not very threatening on their first power play of the game. But on the second, Andrei Svechnikov found Aho open on the back side for a one-timer and his ninth career playoff goal. Aho didn’t get all of the puck on the shot but he got enough at 8:03 of the first.
The Canes nearly made it 2-0 with a little more than six minutes left in the period. Vincent Trocheck was stopped on a shorthanded one-timer by Saros, who made the save with a quick left-to-right lateral move, then denied Trocheck on the rebound.
The Canes were called for four penalties, the last with 56.6 seconds left in a chippy first period. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour had some words with the refs on two of the calls — Dougie Hamilton for interference and then Aho for roughing the Preds’ Erik Haula in front of the Nashville net.
Haula was called for roughing the Canes’ Martin Necas earlier in the period, taking a run at Necas and hitting him after the whistle. The former Canes forward was booed throughout the first period, just as he was in Game 1.
Slavin a scratch
Slavin was at Wednesday’s morning skate but did not go through the pregame warmup and misses Game 2 as Jake Gardiner draws back into the lineup.
Slavin has been slowed by a lower-body injury but played in Game 1 and was at Wednesday’s morning skate at PNC Arena. Brind’Amour was not sure of his availability for Game 2, saying “It’s his decision. If he doesn’t feel right, he’ll let us know.”
Slavin played 21:25 in Game 1, including 2:45 shorthanded.
“He was a warrior,” Brind’Amour said after the game. “He’s such a big part of our team. We need him.”
The defensive pairs with Slavin out have Brady Skjei playing with Dougie Hamilton, Jake Bean with Brett Pesce and Gardiner with Jani Hakanpaa.
Aho is serving as an alternate captain with Slavin out.
Canes stress patience
Sometimes, staying patient is the hardest thing to do in a hockey game. And especially in the playoffs, with the stakes higher.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour continually preaches it: stay patient, stick with the process, with the game plan. The players talk about it, believe in it.
But there are times when you’re the favorite, playing at home. The opponent seems unshakable, the opposing goalie unflappable as the game wears on and the score remains tight.
That’s the way it was in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup first-round series between the Canes and Predators. That’s the way it might be again in Game 2 at PNC Arena.
“It’s a little tug of war,” Brind’Amour said Wednesday after the morning skate. “You’ve got to dig in and stay patient.”
The Canes prevailed Monday in Game 1. It was 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 after two, but the Canes won 5-2 with a big third period.
“That’s how it is all the time, regular season, playoffs,” Brind’Amour said Wednesday. “The playoff games get a little bit tighter. But, really, I think every game seems the same. We talk about the same things and that doesn’t change. It’s magnified.
“So you do have to stay patient, you have to stick with your game. The other team’s trying to do the same things you’re trying to do.”
The Canes will look to repeat their effort from Game 1 in Game 2, hoping for the same outcome.
“We need to just do our job, play the game the right way and our way,” center Sebastian Aho said Wednesday. “Part of it is being patient and not being frustrated. It was a good job in Game 1, but obviously Game 1 is behind us and we have to look to tonight’s game.”
The lineup
Rookie Alex Nedeljkovic will again be the starting goalie as Brind’Amour said he did not anticipate any lineup changes from Game. 1.
The line rushes at the morning skate had Aho centering Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen. Vincent Trocheck centering Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas, Jordan Staal at center with Jesper Fast and Warren Foegele, and Steven Lorentz centering Brock McGinn and Jordan Martinook.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 7:40 PM.
