Defeated Capitals in 5 games to advance to round for 2nd time in 3 seasons
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The Carolina Hurricanes will play the Toronto Maple Leafs or Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Hurricanes advanced to the conference final for the second time in three seasons by defeating the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 5 of the second round in Washington on Thursday.
The Hurricanes, who are the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division, would have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series against the Panthers, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division, but would begin on the road against the Maple Leafs, the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic. Game 7 of that best-of-7 series will be in Toronto on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
“I think we’ve already been in a conference final and we know what’s going to happen there,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “It’s not going to be easy there. We’ll see who we’re going to play against, but this is the time for us to relax a little bit and get ready for the next games.”
Sebastian Aho (three goals, seven assists) and Seth Jarvis (four goals, six assists) lead the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 10 points each, and Svechnikov has nine points (eight goals, one assist).
Frederik Andersen is 7-2 with a 1.36 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and one shutout in nine games. Pyotr Kochetkov is 1-0 with a 2.50 GAA and .900 save percentage.
“I think honestly it’ll just be the same mindset,” defenseman Sean Walker said. “We don’t care who we’re going to play. We’re going to end up just doing our systems, our game plan going forward and make them play our game. Regardless of what happens, we’ll be watching, but we’ll just be preparing ourselves.”
The Hurricanes went 1-2-0 against the Maple Leafs in the regular season. Jordan Staal had four points (three goals, one assist), and Svechnikov had a goal and two assists. Brent Burns and Jordan Martinook each had three assists.
Andersen allowed four goals on 16 shots in his only game against the Maple Leafs, a 4-1 loss on April 13. Kochetkov was 1-1-0 with a 3.59 GAA and .889 save percentage.
Pontus Holmberg (three goals, one assist) and William Nylander (two goals, two assists) led the Maple Leafs against the Hurricanes with four points each. Auston Matthews scored three goals, John Tavares had two goals and an assist, and Morgan Rielly and Max Domi had three assists each.
Anthony Stolarz made 32 saves in his only start against Carolina, a 6-3 win on Feb. 22. Joseph Woll was 1-1-0 with a 3.01 GAA and .898 save percentage.
The Hurricanes defeated the Maple Leafs in six games in the 2002 conference final, the only time they have played each other in the playoffs.
Carolina was 1-2-0 against Florida in the regular season, getting outscored 13-6. Jaccob Slavin, Sean Walker and Jarvis each had a goal and an assist, and Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists.
Kochetkov was 1-0-0, making 25 saves in a 3-1 win on Jan. 2. Spencer Martin, the Hurricanes’ third-string goalie, made two starts, and Yaniv Perets, who is with Chicago of the American Hockey League, played one game in relief.
Anton Lundell led the Panthers with four points (two goals, two assists), and Sam Bennett scored two goals. Eleven players scored at least one goal.
Sergei Bobrovsky was 1-1 with a 2.55 GAA and .929 save percentage. Spencer Knight who was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1, started the other game, making 20 saves in a 6-0 win on Nov. 30.
Carolina and Florida have faced off once in the playoffs. The Panthers swept the Hurricanes in the 2023 conference final.
