Hurricanes rely on depth to win Game 6, eliminate Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. -- The Carolina Hurricanes kept saying they'd need contributions from everyone to defeat the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference First Round.

Their series-clinching
2-1 overtime victory
in Game 6 on Friday was evidence of that.
The heroes came from the top of the lineup, with Sebastian Aho scoring the tying goal 9:24 into the third period, and the bottom, with fourth-line center Paul Stastny scoring 6:00 into overtime. Before the Hurricanes found their offensive game in the third, goalie Frederik Andersen, playing for the first time in the best-of-7 series, kept them within striking distance by making 27 of his 33 saves in the first two periods.
"There's no other way to do it," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We talked about it before the series that it's not going to be one guy. Aho was great. He did everything he could to help us win this, but he wasn't going to be able to do it on his own, and everybody kind of contributed."
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The Hurricanes know they'll need more of the same to win their next series, which will come against the winner between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. The Devils have a 3-2 lead heading into Game 6 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN360, TVAS2).
Carolina began the Stanley Cup Playoffs without Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles tendon) and Andrei Svechnikov (torn ACL) and lost another top-six forward when Teuvo Teravainen (fractured hand) was injured in Game 2.
But they kept plugging along, finding ways to win games with others stepping up, such as Stastny, who had three goals in the series, including the third playoff overtime winner of his NHL career. Aho, their leader with 36 regular-season goals, scored a series-high four goals.
"This group of guys just finds a way to pick each other up," forward Jordan Martinook said. "They're not going to be pretty. They're not going to be a lot of goals, but we know what we are and when can play to our strengths and to our ability, it's a pretty good recipe."
The recipe included Andersen for the first time in the playoffs. Antti Raanta started the first five games and played well in the first four but wasn't as sharp in allowing three goals on 22 shots in a 3-2 loss in Game 5 on Tuesday. Given the Hurricanes' season-long plan of rotating goalies, Andersen might've played earlier in the series if not for an illness and a minor injury that prevented him from dressing for Games 2-4.
With Andersen healthy again, Brind'Amour said it was an easy decision to start him Friday in Carolina's second attempt to close out the series. The Hurricanes signed him to a two-year, $9 million contract July 28, 2021, with big games like Friday in mind, but he missed the playoffs last season with a torn MCL.
"It's what we brought Freddie in here to do," Brind'Amour said. "It's been two years. He missed last year, and if there was time to get him in, this was the night. Obviously, it worked out. He was great."

Andersen stopped 10 of the 11 shots in the first period, with the only blemish being a Cal Clutterbuck shot from the right circle that went in over his glove at 9:21 after the Hurricanes were caught in a line change. Andersen stopped all 17 shots in the second to keep the Hurricanes within one goal despite being outshot 28-19.
"They came out pretty hard in the first, so I had a chance to get into it," Andersen said. "I just try not to get too far ahead of myself and try to enjoy the moment and take each shot at a time. So, it was fun. Obviously it's been a while since I played in the playoffs. That was something I was very excited about."
Andersen had a slim margin for error with Ilya Sorokin in the other net. Sorokin made 34 saves in Game 5 and was locked in again, so the Hurricanes figured it was probably going to take some kind of bounce to get the puck past him Friday.
They got one when defenseman Brett Pesce mishit his shot from the right circle, which floated high in the air to the front of the net. Aho was there to glove down the puck and swat it into the net on his backhand.
"Sometimes it takes a goal like that to be able to win a hockey game," Aho said.
Stastny's overtime goal came on a no-look shot from above the goal line in the right corner that banked in off Sorokin's skate.
"I figured I'm just going to try to shoot this without looking," Stastny said. "I've done it in practice before. … It's just the element of surprise. You get lucky sometimes."
Stastny played on the top two lines for much of his 17-season NHL career, but now near the end of it, the 37-year-old is a fourth-line player with Carolina after signing a one-year, $1.5 million contract last summer.
"You play this long in your career and you sign with a team like this, you know your role is going to change," Stastny said. "I'm just enjoying it. I've got no complaints. Some days are tougher than others, but I'm playing in the National Hockey League. I'm having fun."
The fun will continue for the Hurricanes for at least one more round.
"Give the guys a lot of credit," Brind'Amour said. "Especially with what we're missing, it's hard to believe that we're missing three all-star players in my opinion from the group and we're still finding a way to do it. That says a lot about what's left in there."