Quietly, Hurricanes goalie was the first star in Game 5. Can he do it again in Game 6?
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour couldn’t have scripted it much better.
The Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 at PNC Arena in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The Canes scored the first goal Tuesday, never trailed, looked to be the quicker, hungrier team and skated off after their third Storm Surge celebration — Vincent Trocheck jumping into the arms of Jaccob Slavin on the way off — with a 3-2 lead in the series.
Much of the postgame talk centered on rookie Seth Jarvis and his seat-of-the-pants goal, the way Tony DeAngelo kept his cool, the Canes scoring on the power play, the way the Jordan Staal line neutralized the Patrice Bergeron line, and the noise level of the overflow crowd.
“It was electric,” said Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, whose only disappointment this night apparently was his tie choice — a patchwork paisley — that was not universally received by the team.
And then there was Antti Raanta, who happened to be named the game’s first star. That also gave the Canes something good to talk about.
“He was awesome, again,” Jarvis said.
Had the Bruins’ Brad Marchand knocked in a quick backhander early in the game to tie the score, it might have been different. It might have been the lift the Bruins needed, something to quiet that crowd.
But Raanta gloved the Marchand shot. He stopped everything until midway through the third period, when Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton skated in unchecked on the right wing to score.
“He was really good,” DeAngelo said. “He made that save on Marchand in the first period. I thought that was a huge save for the momentum of the team.
“Raants has been really good. Sharp, makes a lot of saves, not many rebounds at all. Huge for us.”
By game’s end, Raanta had 33 saves, 14 in the final period as the Bruins tried to muster a late push. His poised, efficient play in net also gives the Canes the hope of being able to end the series Thursday in Game 6 in Boston.
Brind’Amour sure would like to script it that way. Goaltending has been an ongoing issue for the Canes since Frederik Andersen left the April 16 game at Colorado with a lower-body injury. With their top goalie out and his return uncertain, the Canes recalled Pyotr Kochetkov from the Chicago Wolves of the AHL to be Raanta’s backup.
Kochetkov was needed immediately when Raanta had to leave a regular-season game against the New York Islanders. Then came the playoffs, and after winning Game 1 with 35 saves in his first career playoff start, Raanta had his Game 2 run-in with Boston’s David Pastrnak.
Suddenly, Raanta was out. It was Kochetkov’s net and again in Game 3, the first in Boston and a first playoff start for the rookie from Russia. It also was the Bruins’ first win in the series.
Raanta was back for Game 4 and the loser in a penalty-filled game. But he now has the chance to go back to TD Garden, play well, atone for that defeat and get the Hurricanes on to the next round.
“Since the last game you kind of start to prepare yourself for today’s game … and it’s all about just going out there and battling,” Raanta said. “You try to be sharp with your movements, try to get into places and be in a good balance when the shot is coming and then follow the rebounds. I think that’s kind of how the game went today.
“The first period there was a couple of rebounds and I think as the game went on it started to get better controlling (rebounds). But the whole team played great in front of me and they made my job a little easier.”
Staal’s line did. Boston coach Bruce Cassidy put the so-called “Perfection Line” back together, Pastrnak rejoining Bergeron and Marchand in the two games at TD Garden, and it combined for 10 points Sunday in the 5-1 Boston win.
The Bergeron line had 14 shots Tuesday and produced its share of scoring chances, but was held without a point. Cassidy replaced Pastrnak with Jake DeBrusk in the third.
“Obviously ‘Jordo’s’ line has been really good,” Raanta said. “The whole year they’ve been playing together. Usually when they’re on the ice the puck is in the other end, and they are really good at coming back on defense and you don’t see any odd-man rushes when they’re on the ice.
“Obviously it’s big when you can put them against those, but still it’s the playoffs. Everybody has to take that one step and play whoever comes against you.”
That includes the goalie, who came up big Tuesday, and wants to do it again.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 8:17 AM.
