Svechnikov heating up, helps Hurricanes earn 'biggest win' in Game 5

RALEIGH, N.C. – Andrei Svechnikov has had to navigate through some lows and highs this season, from his slow start through the roller coaster of this Stanley Cup Final.

There was no question, though, where Svechnikov’s two-goal performance and the Carolina Hurricanes’ 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center on Thursday fell on the emotional spectrum.

“This is (the) biggest win in my life, personally,” Svechnikov said. “But thank God we won that game and obviously our focus right now is, it’s in our mind, we’ve got one more win to do here.”

Thanks in part to Svechnikov, the Hurricanes are one victory away from winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006. Leading 3-2 in the best-of-7 series after winning the past two games, they can close it out in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

For Svechnikov, it seems like ages ago since he began the regular season without scoring a goal, or getting a point, in Carolina’s first eight games. Even the disappointment of the Hurricanes’ 5-4 double-overtime loss in Game 3 on Saturday, which Svechnikov said was the toughest of his career, seems like a distant bad memory.

The 26-year-old is heating up at the right time with three power-play goals in the past three games, including one 11:58 into the second period Thursday that snapped a 1-1 tie and put Carolina ahead for good. 

“I hope this kick starts him because we need him scoring goals like he did tonight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Coincidentally, Svechnikov’s low point of the season came in a 4-1 loss at Vegas on Oct. 20, when he was demoted to the fourth line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Robinson. Then, he started finding his game when he scored his first goal of the season in a home game against the Golden Knights on Oct. 28.

That was the start of stretch when he scored six goals and had 10 points in nine games.

“Obviously, I think that was the toughest game, (eight) games, on the start of the season,” Svechnikov said. “But I tried to always fight through it, and it doesn’t matter what’s happening and I always try to stay positive. And that’s what kind of happened.

“I think I had my best season of (my) career and right now, as a team, we’ve got the best playoffs so far.”

Svechnikov ended up finishing the regular season by setting NHL career highs in goals (31) and points (70) in 79 games. He also started the Stanley Cup Playoffs slowly, though, with no goals and just one assist in the first six games. 

The good news for Carolina was they won all those games without Svechnikov scoring, but they knew they’d need him to produce at some point for them to win the Stanley Cup. His first power-play goal Thursday might have been the biggest goal of his career. 

“It was big,” Carolina forward Sebastian Aho said. “It was a tie game at the moment and, obviously, him finding the back of the net gave us the lead, so really big.”

After taking a pass from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, Svechnikov curled toward the inner edge of the right circle and let go a wrist shot that went between the legs of Vegas defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and beat goalie Carter Hart between the pads.

“That was the kind of shooting mentality,” Svechnikov said. “I try to get as quick a shot as possible, and, obviously, it (worked) out.”

Svechnikov said the shooting mentality has been the key to the resurgence of the Hurricanes' power play during the Cup Final. After struggling through the first three rounds of the playoffs, Carolina is 6-for-14 in the past four games.

“We’ve got the shooting mentality and looking for rebounds,” Svechnikov said. “I think we’ve got the chemistry going on and looking forward for the next game.”

Svechnikov didn’t have to do as much on his second goal, another power-play goal that increased Carolina’s lead to 4-1 at 11:08 of the third period. Nikolaj Ehlers did most of the work on that one with a spin-around pass from between the circles to set up Svechnikov for a slam dunk from the right side of the crease.

“I just was kind of backdoor and I knew he was going to make that pass because he just sees everything on the ice,” Svechnikov said. “I just kind of had to stick out my stick there and, he’s going to hit it and he did. So, obviously, unbelievable play by him.”