Tag: Carolina Hurricanes

Former Notre Dame players score for Islanders in Stanley Cup playoffs

Sadly, they weren’t enough for a win.

The Stanley Cup playoffs have been underway for a few days now. One team competing for the grandest trophy in sports is the New York Islanders, who happen to have two former Notre Dame players on their roster. Both scored in Game 2 of their best-of-7 first-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes.

[autotag]Kyle Palmieri[/autotag] drew first blood in the game on a four-on-four late in the first period:

Early in the second period, [autotag]Anders Lee[/autotag] extended the Islanders’ lead further by scoring on a power play:

As nice as it would be to say they made the difference in this game, it proved to be the high mark for the Islanders. The Carolina Hurricanes proceeded to score five unanswered goals to win, 5-3, and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

The good news for the Islanders is that they’re going home for two straight games. However, they surely didn’t want to be in this hole, and a loss like this can be devastating to a team. Stranger things have happened in the playoffs though, so the chance always is there.

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See Matthew Tkachuk’s stunning last-second goal to clinch a Stanley Cup Final berth

THE PANTHERS CINDERELLA PLAYOFF RUN CONTINUES!

The Florida Panthers are going to the Stanley Cup Final and Matthew Tkachuk is — of course! — the one that got them there.

The Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday in an unthinkable sweep of the Eastern Conference Final. Game 4 seemed destined for overtime after the Hurricanes tied up the game 3-3 late in the third period. Tkachuk, however, had other plans.

With less than a minute left in the third, the Panthers were given a rare power play opportunity to put the series away. And with just 4.3 seconds remaining in the period, Tkachuk cashed in to give the Panthers the 4-3 lead and the win.

While the NHL reviewed the play, Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was not interfered with in his attempt to save the puck.

What a goal! Once Tkachuk saw the empty net in front of him with Andersen out of position, it was all over for the Hurricanes.

With the sweep, the Panthers now advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996, marking their second overall appearance in the final round. Florida will now have to wait to see which team will be their opponent out of the West, but what an exhilarating run this has been for the Panthers!

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel got the Panthers crowd absolutely hyped ahead of Game 4

Mike McDaniel got HYPED to rally the Florida Panthers crowd with a drum.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has never been afraid to have some fun off the field.

Ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, McDaniel sported his custom Panthers jersey and rallied the crowd with a few bangs on the Florida drum.

McDaniel didn’t hold back on pumping up the Florida crowd by really getting into his bangs on the rally drum. The fans seemed to really respond to the the coach’s passion for the hockey team.

If the Miami gig doesn’t work out in the end, he’s got a great career as a Panthers hype man just waiting for him.

Talk about a way to get the crowd going. The Panthers have had a tremendous 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs so far, and perhaps the Dolphins will pick up on that Sunshine State momentum this fall.

At the very least, McDaniel is going to bring plenty of hype back to the Miami locker room.

NHL fans couldn’t believe there was no penalty on this late high stick during Hurricanes-Panthers Game 3

Did the referees miss this late high stick on Shayne Gostisbehere?

The Florida Panthers are now one win away from their first Stanley Cup Final berth since 1996, but some NHL fans have questions as to how Game 3 ended.

On Monday, the Panthers bested the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final. Despite the Hurricanes outshooting the Panthers 32-17, Florida held strong off the back of Sergei Bobrovsky’s fantastic performance in net.

However, the ending of Game 3 didn’t sit well with many NHL fans. With the goaltender pulled in the final few minutes of the game, the Hurricanes were breaking out of their own zone when Shayne Gostisbehere was hit with a high stick from Sam Reinhart. Play was stopped before the Panthers scored an empty netter, but after some deliberation, the referees decided that no penalty should be called and that play should continue 1-0.

Here’s how the play went down.

While Gostisbehere exaggerates it, the Hurricanes’ defenseman still gets hit up high with a stick, which is a penalty regardless of the reaction. Of course, the Hurricanes didn’t lose Game 3 because of the no penalty call, but going on a late power play with the chance to tie the game would have benefited them greatly.

NHL fans could not believe this high stick on Gostisbehere was not called a penalty late in Game 3.

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Matthew Tkachuk scored yet another game-winning goal for the Panthers in overtime

Matthew Tkachuk won the game AGAIN in overtime for the Panthers.

Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk is having himself a heck of a 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

After closing out one of the longest NHL games of all time with a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in four overtimes, Tkachuk scored yet another overtime goal to get the Panthers a second-straight playoff win over Carolina on Saturday.

It’s just stunning for a player, even one as talented as Tkachuk, to score two-straight overtime goals in a playoff series.

However, that’s exactly what the Panthers star did, and now Florida heads back to the Sunshine State with a 2-0 lead over Carolina in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals. A sweep feels like a distinct possibility at this point.

Tkachuk certainly will always remember the dramatic game winner after playing in four overtimes against Carolina, but this game-winning overtime goal won’t soon be forgotten, either.

Florida fans are probably exhausted after yet another playoff game against the Hurricanes went into overtime, but Tkachuk got things done much, much earlier than he did the other night.

In the end, whether it’s one overtime session or four, the Panthers are surely glad to have Tkachuk on their side when it counts.

Panthers great Jonathan Stewart breaks Hurricanes’ siren at Eastern Conference Finals

Panthers great Jonathan Stewart literally broke the Carolina Hurricanes’ storm siren prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night.

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Former Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart was known to break a few ankles and souls out of the backfield. But now, with his playing days behind him, he’s gone on to break some other stuff.

On Thursday night, Stewart played the role of honorary siren sounder for the Carolina Hurricanes prior to the opening game of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against, ironically enough, the Florida Panthers. And unfortunately for that siren, the once fast and furious runner hit it with as much strength, speed and endurance as he did his defenders.

By busting the siren, the Panthers’ all-time leading rusher caused some all-time aftermath. University of North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis was a fellow sounder on the night, and was supposed to get a turn at the churn following Stewart.

So instead, he just did this . . .

To add insult to injury, the Hurricanes dropped Game 1 in a draining 3-2 quadruple-overtime loss.

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The Hurricanes epically trolled the Devils using Cameo and some New Jersey celebrities

This is seriously so brilliant.

Seriously, this is some genius, right up there with the Titans’ schedule release video and the Chargers’ now-annual trolling anime video.

After the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, the winners released a video on social media in which it appears the team hired some very well-known New Jersey celebrities — among them: Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from Jersey Shore, Teresa Giudice from Real Housewives of New Jersey, Fireman Ed the Jets fan and so on — congratulate Carolina on moving on to the next round.

It would appear that the message they gave to those celebs masked the fact that it was the Hurricanes getting Jersey’s best to troll their own hockey team. Bravo:

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The Islanders scored a goal after the puck deflected off Sebastian Aho’s face and it looked so painful

Thankfully, Sebastian Aho seemed to be okay after this nasty puck to the face.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Sebastian Aho paid a heavy price for this goal against.

During Tuesday’s Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Hurricanes and New York Islanders, the worst case scenario happened for the home team. The Islanders — down 3-1 in the series — held a 1-0 lead as the second period began, looking to stave off elimination in the first round.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, the Islanders doubled up their lead to 2-0 after a fortuitous bounce made its way past Antti Raanta. The bounce in question, however, came off of Aho — no, not that one — who was standing guard in front of the net for the Hurricanes when he took a puck to the face before Brock Nelson was able to tap it home.

Warning: The video below features the sight of blood.

Thankfully, Aho returned to the Hurricanes bench later in the second period as he appeared to shrug off any significant injury after that scary incident. Talk about terrible luck all around for Aho and the Hurricanes.

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Canes center Martin Nečas punched a random Islanders player after being pushed into the New York bench

Hurricanes center Martin Nečas wasn’t about to lose the perfect opportunity to … punch a random guy on the Islanders bench?

Carolina Hurricanes center Martin Nečas was not about to let a perfect opportunity pass him by to, well, punch a random member of the New York Islanders on Friday night.

As the Canes and Islanders squared off in the opening round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Nečas got knocked into the New York bench by Isles center Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Nečas decided to take advantage of the moment by getting a light punch in at New York center Brock Nelson before he went back to the ice.

Everyone on the Isles bench reacted with shock and annoyment as Nečas swiftly got away after landing his very quick punch, which wasn’t penalized by the referees.

This really is just one of those golden moments that only playoff hockey can give you. 

Like, that is just prime slapstick comedy. In real life, you should never punch someone under any circumstance. In a sport that’s known for its petty brawls, y’know, at least make it funny.

Islanders winger Kyle Palmieri did take the brief swipe at Nelson in stride.

Hey, hockey is hockey, and as long as nobody actually got hurt, this was pretty humorous. New York also won Friday’s game 5-1, so everybody wins?

Sebastian Aho absolutely leveled Sebastian Aho with a punishing hit that broke the space-time continuum

Sebastian Aho put a punishing hit on … Sebastian Aho during Canes-Islanders on Monday night.

Hockey fans had to do a double take during Monday night’s NHL playoffs bout between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes.

As the two teams squared off at Carolina’s PNC Arena to start the first round, Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho put a punishing hit on, you guessed it, New York Islanders defenseman Sebastian Aho as the game ran through its final minutes.

If you weren’t aware, there are two players named Sebastian Aho in the NHL, and worlds collided for the two hockey players in the most hilarious way possible.

Carolina’s Sebastian Aho got a pretty good move on New York’s Sebastian Aho in that sequence, and we’re betting New York’s Sebastian Aho will want to return the favor on Carolina’s Sebastian Aho in the next meeting.

The “Sebastian Aho playoff series” as it will now forever be called saw its first game go to Carolina, which means one of the Sebastian Ahos was victorious while the other will be looking to even things out in the next game.