The Carolina Hurricanes are now just one win away from advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After losing Game 3 in double overtime to Sheldon Keefe`s New Jersey Devils, the Hurricanes responded in Game 4 with a decisive 5-2 victory, putting the Devils on the brink of elimination.
Getting off to a fast start was crucial for the Hurricanes in this game, as veteran forward Jordan Martinook emphasized before the game when asked about the team`s strategy after their previous losses.
Martinook had stressed the need for a better start, noting, “I think we’ve got to get started off better. If you look at Game 2 and 3, I didn’t like our start… We’ve got to put our game on them — you’ve seen when we’re rolling and we’re going after them, they’re struggling to hang with us. So, we’ve got to get back to that.”
In the previous two games, the Devils scored first, forcing the Hurricanes to play catch-up. In Game 4, it initially seemed the same might happen as the Devils had an early scoring chance against Frederik Andersen.
However, this time, less than a minute into the game, the Hurricanes seized the momentum. Andrei Svechnikov opened the scoring with a shot from the top of the right circle.
Svechnikov, who was promoted to the top line for this game after starting Game 3 lower in the lineup, continued his strong play in the second period. He deflected a Seth Jarvis shot into the net in the opening minute of the period. He completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal late in the third period.
With his hat trick, Svechnikov tied his head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, for second place on the Hurricanes’ all-time playoff goals list, now with 19 goals.
