The Hurricanes switched up their lines after warmups. It took another switch late to win.
Was it subterfuge from Rod Brind’Amour? Or did the Carolina Hurricanes coach actually outthink himself? Either way, it ended up working. Eventually.
The Hurricanes went through warmups before Thursday night’s Game 6 with the same lines they’d used for most of the series, but quickly switched to new groupings that put Sebastian Aho between the team’s two in-form wingers, Brock McGinn and Martin Necas, while rearranging all three of the other lines.
That produced two of the Hurricanes’ worst periods of the playoffs, and Brind’Amour switched things up again in the third, one of the Hurricanes’ best. Aho kept McGinn but got Teuvo Teravainen back, and that line accounted for the game-tying and game-winning goals as the Hurricanes eliminated the Nashville Predators in six games with a 4-3 overtime win.
“We had a plan going in,’ Brind’Amour said. “It was just going to see what their matchups were, to be honest. When we saw what they were thinking of doing, we made the change. It didn’t work, obviously, for two periods. Then we changed that up again and that worked. Probably overthought it a little bit, maybe, but that’s coaching.”
Four straight overtime games
After Jordan Staal scored only 2:03 into overtime Tuesday to win Game 5, the Hurricanes scored quickly again Thursday, with Aho’s tip of a Jaccob Slavin shot coming 1:06 into overtime. That was in stark contrast to games 3 and 4, which went a combined 71:04 with the Predators winning both.
“It was pretty awesome just to not have to play too much longer,” Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton said. “We were all pretty happy about that, I think.”
This series concluded with four straight overtime games, one of only three playoff series ever to have four consecutive OTs. The other two went even further. The Chicago Blackhawks and Phoenix Coyotes started their first-round series with five straight OT games in 2012 and the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens went to OT in all five games of the 1951 Stanley Cup finals.
“Four overtime games, it could have went either way,” Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “A bounce here, a bounce there. Obviously, it went their way tonight.”
Jordan Martinook delivers for the Canes
In critical moments of Game 6, the Hurricanes got a boost from Jordan Martinook, who at one point slid on the ice in front of Alex Nedeljkovic to deny a scoring chance and at another knocked Nashville defenseman Roman Josi out of the game with a big hit in the corner.
Martinook’s physical play was a big catalyst for the Hurricanes as they recovered from a sluggish first period and dismal second to dominate the game in the third.
“Martinook, he was having a good game, all the way through,” Brind’Amour said.
Very special teams
The Hurricanes’ penalty-kill allowed just three power-play goals on 26 Nashville chances in the series, and two of those came with the Predators on a two-man advantage, including the goal that put Nashville up 3-1 in the second Thursday.
Carolina’s power play went 4-for-19, scoring key goals in games 5 and 6. Necas got the Hurricanes on the board after falling behind Tuesday and Aho’s power-play goal late in the second period Thursday gave the Hurricanes a puncher’s chance going into the third.
Tailwinds
Nashville held its first and only two-goal lead of the series during Thursday’s second period. It lasted only 6:02. Of the 434:13 played in the series, the teams were separated by more than a goal for only 18:55. … Aho, held off the scoresheet in games 4 and 5, scored twice Thursday. He’s never gone pointless in three consecutive playoff games. He finished the series with a team-leading seven points (two goals, five assists). ... The Hurricanes outscored the Predators 9-2 in the third period in the series.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 12:00 PM.
