Frederik Andersen’s composed performance helped send Carolina to the Stanley Cup Finals in an emotional upset for the Hurricanes.
RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The horn sounded to give Carolina one The long-awaited Eastern Conference final advance. And the Hurricanes immediately made their way across the ice to Frederik Andersen in the winning crease.
Veteran forward Jordan Martinook gave Andersen a hearty hughitting the goalie on the helmet all the time. Then came linebacker Jalen Chatfield. And coach Rod Brind’Amour followed with a long hug and a few words, with Andersen then pausing to lean forward and collect himself before going through the traditional handshake line.
Andersen was consistent again as the Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday night in Game 5 to send the Eastern Conference seed to the Stanley Cup Final to face Vegas. It came after an emotionally wrenching 36 hours for Andersen, whose agent – former NHL playing great Claude Lemieux — took his life on Thursday.
“It’s been a tough two days, but the way we showed up today and the last two days for the team for each other, it’s been unbelievable,” Andersen said in a postgame interview with TNT. “I can’t say enough good things about this team and how they’ve supported me. It’s been fantastic.”
Andersen’s game has been one of the greatest stories in returning the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since hoisting the Cup in 2006, when coach Rod Brind’Amour was captain. He overcame a shaky start to the year, after surprising Brandon Bussi to walk away with the starting job, had a refreshing stretch playing for Denmark in Milan Cortina Olympicsplayed well down the stretch of the regular season and has been a level-headed version of himself throughout the postseason.
Now the 36-year-old veteran is heading to the Cup final for the first time in his career.
He was coming off his third shutout of the postseason on Wednesday 4-0 road win as the Hurricanes asserted an increasingly tight grip on possession for the series. And that came just two days after Lemieux had been the Canadiens’ torchbearer before Carolina’s 3-2 overtime victory in Game 3.
Andersen didn’t mind Lemieux sharing in Montreal’s pregame mojo for the franchise where he won one of his four Stanley Cups in 1986 as a rookie.
“He’s like family,” Andersen told the North State Journal afterward.
By Thursday, news had spread of Lemieux’s passing, with Andersen set to start after the Hurricanes took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“To be honest, it wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to play,” Brind’Amour said. “You just don’t know how this is going to shake out. Obviously, he shook it off and dealt with it. You saw the emotions after the game. Yeah, it’s a tough time for him. But he made us all proud, that’s for sure.”
Andersen finished with 23 saves and, as he has throughout the playoffs, came up with nearly every timely save the Hurricanes needed against a skilled but desperate Canadiens team. And just like in the previous three wins, the Hurricanes were dominant in their game to play a suffocating style who routinely won ball battles and kept pressure on Montreal in his own end, rather than giving up chances to go the other way or shots attempted against Andersen.
He held the shutout well into the third period before eventually giving up a goal to Cole Caufield on the power play, albeit with Carolina already up 5-0.
Andersen continues to lead the postseason in goals against average (1.41) and ranks among the leaders in save percentage (.931).
“I know we were playing for it the best we could,” captain Jordan Staal said. “And it’s a tough couple of days here for him. We’re just a family here and we all felt him hurt. We tried to share as best we could and play well in front of him as best we could tonight.
“I thought he played unbelievable.”
By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
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