Hurricanes navigating ups and downs entering Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When the Carolina Hurricanes arrive at T-Mobile Arena for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the host Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (8 p.m. ET: ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC), there’s a good chance they’ll get a glimpse of The Big Apple Coaster at the adjoining New York-New York Hotel & Casino.

They’ll certainly be able to relate upon seeing the famed roller coaster, given the ups and downs they’ve experienced through the first 123:56 of this series, which has featured, in no particular order:

• Both teams trading multigoal comeback wins, with each specifically having erased a 2-0 deficit en route to victory.
• Dramatic, late winning goals: Tomas Hertl giving Vegas a 5-4 victory in Game 1 by scoring with 3:24 left, and Carolina responding with Seth Jarvis’ heroics at 3:56 of overtime to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 win in Game 2 that evened the best-of-7 series 1-1.
• A disallowed goal by Ivan Barbashev with 5:00 remaining in the third period of Game 2 that would have given Vegas a 3-2 lead, and a subsequent coach’s challenge by the Golden Knights that was unsuccessful.

Add it all up, and it’s provided a topsy-turvy showcase of riveting entertainment that has left neutral fans fascinated, and coaches and players on both sides both exhilarated and devastated, often in the span of just a few minutes.

“It’s obviously a new series, a five-game series now,” Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said Friday before his team left for Las Vegas. “Obviously a lot of emotions throughout the games too. For almost 50 minutes there it’s kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high. It’s been a roller coaster, for sure.”

The key, he said, is to stay grounded and not get carried away.

“It’s just managing (your feelings)," he said. “We’re still human beings. We’re going to be nervous out there and have emotions, but the more you do it, the more you do anything, you get used to it. So it’s just trying to holster that and bring it all in and focus on the task at hand.”

No one, at times, has done that better than Frederik Andersen.

In the Eastern Conference Final against the Montreal Canadiens, playing Games 3 and 4 on the road at Bell Centre in an electric atmosphere unequaled anywhere else in the game, with deafening chants of “Ole, ole, ole” ringing through the building, the Hurricanes goaltender managed to block out the white noise -- literally -- in a 3-2 overtime win followed by a 4-0 shutout. It’s an example of a player remaining even keeled when there is chaos going on around him.

It’s the same composure he’ll need in Las Vegas, where the crowd is loud, the in-game theatrics are second to none and where the Golden Knights are 6-2 in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, including wins in their past three.

“The louder it gets, the more quiet you get in your own little bubble and just focusing on what you've got to do to try to execute,” he said. “And we can talk about how fun it is, right? It's a special time of year, and it's a really cool opportunity and experience that we all get to have.

“If we weren't enjoying it, as well, it would be a big shame, right?”

The 36-year-old admitted it took a while in his career to understand how to deal with hostile environments.

"When I was younger, obviously, I think I would want to try to do too much,” Andersen said. “I think that's a common thing, and it's something you've got to learn. 

“You've got to be comfortable with knowing that you're going to try to execute in a simple way, and (be) effective. I try to be as smooth as possible.”

The Hurricanes have been exactly that on the road during this postseason, going 6-0 away from Lenovo Center. Having said that, playing at Vegas will be their most difficult test yet.

“It’s going to be hard,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “We’re going to be playing in a different atmosphere. But we’ve been there. We know how to play on the road. It’s going to be exciting to play in Vegas.”

If anyone knows the ebbs and flows a Stanley Cup Final can have, it’s Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour. 

That’s because he lived it as a player back in 2006.

Twenty years ago, Carolina went up 3-1 in the series against the Edmonton Oilers and was one win away from the Cup only to lose the next two games, forcing Game 7. Somehow, the Hurricanes found a way to regain their confidence and bounce back when it mattered most, winning 3-1 to clinch the only NHL championship in franchise history.

Through two games this time around, he’s seen parallels to the emotional yo-yo he experienced two decades earlier.

“For sure,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, clearly that’s happening naturally (right now). I mean, it would anyway in this environment when playing in the Final, but the way these games have played out, it’s adding to that. Certainly it’s a lot of stress on coaches but it’s enjoyable, right?

“I think it’s been entertaining for everybody, and, hopefully, that continues.”

It hasn’t been an issue thus far.