By Canadian Press

Stastny’s OT goal sends Hurricanes past Isles into 2nd round

Apr 28, 2023 | 8:40 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Stastny scored 6:01 into overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Friday night in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sebastian Aho tied it midway through the third period for the Hurricanes. Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots while making his first start of the postseason.

Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin finished with 39 saves. New York was eliminated in the first round for the first time in their last five trips to the postseason.

The Hurricanes advanced to face the winner of the series between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. The Devils lead 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Saturday night.

Derek Stepan started the winning sequence in overtime when he intercepted Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech’s clearing pass. Stepan skated up and passed to Stastny, who fired a sharp-angle shot from the goal line that deflected off Sorokin’s left pad and between his legs.

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It was Stastny’s third career overtime playoff winner.

After getting outshot in each of the first two periods, the Hurricanes had a 19-5 edge in the third and tied the score midway through the period.

Sorokin denied a backhand shot by Jesse Puljujarvi 2:13 into the third to keep the Hurricanes off the scoreboard. At the other end, Andersen saved a shot by Casey Cizikas less than 10 seconds later. Sorokin also had a nice glove save on Jordan Martinook at 8:17.

Aho from the left doorstep at 9:24 as he knocked the puck down out of the air with his glove and knocked it past Sorokin. It was his fourth goal of the series.

The Islanders outshot the Hurricanes 17-11 in a scoreless second period that saw both sides have plenty of scoring chances.

Sorokin gloved Brady Skjei’s point shot 1:03 into the second period. Andersen then gloved a shot from between the circles by Brock Nelson four minutes later.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi nearly tied it for Carolina, but his shot hit off the crossbar at 7:48. The Islanders than had sustained pressure in the offensive zone around the middle of the period, with Andersen stopping attempts by Scott Mayfield and Cizikas less than 20 seconds apart.

The UBS Arena crowd erupted in boos when Aho knocked down New York defenseman Sebastian Aho with 3 1/2 minutes left in the middle period, earning an interference penalty. The Islanders managed three shots on goal during the power play.

New York outshot Carolina 11-8 in the first period, and had the better scoring opportunities.

The Hurricanes went 7 1/2 minutes between their first two shots on goal, from Martin Necas’ attempt from the left circle 1:03 into the game to Brett Pesce’s shot from the right point at 8:31.

The Islanders got on the scoreboard when they took advantage of a Hurricanes turnover in the neutral zone. Clutterbuck got pass from Ryan Pulock, skated up the right side and fired a shot from the right circle past Andersen at 9:20 for his first goal of the series.

GOALIE CHANGE

The Hurricanes turned to Andersen after Antti Raanta had started the first five games of the series. Raanta gave up three goals on 22 shots in a 3-2 loss in Game 5. For the series, Raanta has a 2.59 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.

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Follow Vin Cherwoo at https://www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Vin A. Cherwoo, The Associated Press