The Hurricanes will learn their opponent on Monday night
On Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes learned when their next series would start. However, their opponent remains a mystery. Facing elimination, the Buffalo Sabres got an early goal, but three goals on their first four shots put the Montreal Canadiens out to a 3-1 lead. The Sabres changed goalies and scored SEVEN unanswered goals in an 8-3 season-saving victory in Game 6.
With the series knotted at three games apiece, it'll all come down to tonight's Game 7 in Buffalo. Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson came to life on Saturday, combining for nine points in the win. It was Buffalo's fifth win on the road in six games, and the road team has won four of the six games in this series. This could bode well for Montreal, who won Games 2 and 5 as the visitors.
The Canadiens have gone to seven games in each of their series this postseason. In the first round, they mustered just nine shots against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but they did enough to win the game, eliminating the Bolts with a 2-1 win. They've played almost twice as many games as the Canes this postseason, while the teams in this series alone have played one fewer that Carolina's total.
No one takes breaks like the Carolina Hurricanes
While we know that the Eastern Conference Final will begin on Thursday at 8 pm, it still means a few more days of rest for the Hurricanes. Depending on who you ask and when they started their count, this break has been 11 or 12 days since playing Game 4 against the Flyers on May 9. This makes them the fourth team to wait 10+ days between series in NHL history.
The longest break ever is 12 days, which means that the Canes have tied the record, previously set by the 1919 Montreal Canadiens, depending on when the count began. Otherwise, they're one day short of it, putting them alone in second. I don't really think it matters when the count started. We can all agree that it has been a very long time.
Along with practicing and finding ways to keep their competitive drive going, Several Hurricanes took some time over the weekend to support the NWSL's North Carolina Courage in Cary. Seth Jarvis swapped jerseys with goalie, and fellow Canadian, Kailen Sheridan, while Brandon Bussi and Ally Schlegal posed for a photo op. The Courage stomped the Chicago Red Stars, 4-0.
Could an extension for Andersen be in the works?
We've already seen the Hurricanes do a bit of business during this stretch between games, signing Mark Jankowski to a two-year deal and Charlie Cerrato to his entry-level contract. The list of internal decisions to make this offseason is already pretty small, and there are already rumblings of another potential deal getting done before July 1.
Goalie Frederik Andersen has played out of his mind during the first two rounds, and he's in line to become a free agent this summer. The 36-year-old Dane had his worst regular season on record, but his play this postseason has been nothing short of remarkable. The Canes already have Brandon Bussi signed to a three-year deal, and Pyotr Kochetkov is entering the final year of his extension.
Any potential extension won't be discussed until after the season ends, but it could mean one of two things. Either the team is rolling with the three-man rotation again, or Kochetkov could be a trade candidate this summer. It's far too early to know for sure what is going to happen, and I'd expect this next deal to be no more than one or two years. Either way, it'll make for an interesting story to watch.
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