Hurricanes Beat Devils, Advance in Stanley Cup Playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes clinched their first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory on Tuesday night at Lenovo Center. The win advances the Hurricanes to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Carolina entered the game with a 3-1 series lead but found themselves in a three-goal deficit just ten minutes into the first period. Despite the early setback, the Hurricanes rallied back in the second period with four unanswered goals. Sebastian Aho’s game-winning goal came at 4:17 of the second overtime during a four-minute power play.

“Unreal,” Aho said after the game. “Obviously you almost black out for a second there. The crowd goes nuts, guys are jumping on you, it’s an unreal feeling.”

The Hurricanes capitalized on a double-minor penalty assessed to New Jersey’s Dawson Mercer, allowing Aho to score on a one-timer from Shayne Gostisbehere. This victory marks Carolina as the first team to advance to the second round this postseason.

Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour praised his team’s resilience. “Proud of the group for digging in. I think it could’ve been easy to go, ‘Well, it’s 3-nothing,’ but they didn’t,” he said.

In goal, Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves in his first playoff start, stepping in for Frederik Andersen, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after a collision during Game 4.

New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom faced heavy pressure, recording 49 saves, but couldn’t hold off the Hurricanes’ onslaught. The Devils’ fast start saw goals from Mercer, Timo Meier, and Stefan Noesen, leaving them briefly in control before Carolina surged back into contention.

The Hurricanes now await the winner of the Montreal-Washington series, with Washington currently leading that series 3-1.