The Carolina Hurricanes are looking strong after sweeping the Ottawa Senators out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina is now awaiting the winner of the Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins series. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour is giving praise to his goaltender, Frederik Andersen.
Andersen put together another dazzling performance for Carolina in Game 4 against Ottawa. He finished the game with 25 saves on 27 shots against him.
“You can’t understate that, especially when you consider how well the other guy was playing in their end,” Brind’Amour said of Andersen, per ESPN. “It was a goalie matchup, and they were going save for save. And we needed it, right? Otherwise, this thing could look a lot different.
“Freddie, it’s probably the best hockey he’s played for us since being a Hurricane.”
The Hurricanes did get some bad news in the game, as defenseman Alexander Nikishin went down with an injury. Nikishin has a concussion, after getting crushed by Senators player Tyler Kleven.
Despite the injury, Carolina is skating with confidence. The Hurricanes scored first in all four games of the Ottawa series.
“I’m really proud of the group for the way they played for four games. You’re up three-nothing, and the tendency — human nature — is maybe to not put the whole foot on the gas,” Brind’Amour said. “But our first period was great. We came out like, ‘We want to finish this.’ And we had to, to play against that team. You’re not going to win if you didn’t come with that attitude. And I thought we were able to do that for all four games.”
Carolina will be watching closely to what happens in the Flyers-Penguins series. Philadelphia leads that series, 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Monday night in Pittsburgh.
The Carolina Hurricanes are looking strong after sweeping the Ottawa Senators out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina is now awaiting the winner of the Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins series. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour is giving praise to his goaltender, Frederik Andersen.