Antti Raanta won the first playoff series of his NHL career early Sunday morning Finnish time. Carolina will face either the New York Rangers or Pittsburgh in the second round of the playoffs.
15.5. 07:18 • Updated May 15 07:48
The decisive seventh match of the first round between Carolina and Boston ended directly from Hitchcock’s film: home team Hurricanes already seemed to be down to an easy 3-1 win when Boston hit the puck with six men Antti Raannan back in time 59.38.
After that, Boston won the start, got the puck to the end of Carolina and spun it in front of the home team’s goal.
After the match, Raanta called the time after the goal the longest in his life for 20 seconds.
– I only saw it when the puck went to the end and suddenly it came straight in front of the goal Patrice Bergeronin shoulder. It just made me think about what was happening now. Nothing but eyes closed, kneeling and hoping the puck will hit something. Luckily, it hit a hand, Raanta laughed to Sport after the match came to a halt.
– On the other hand, no one promised us that winning against these guys would be easy.
Carolina eventually won both the decisive match 3–2 and the match series 4–3.
Home advantage of hard currency
There was a special home front line where both teams won every home match. It wasn’t until Sunday’s seventh game that the first single-goal game in the series was seen. The exchange advantage, especially for the home team, played a big role in the series. Sebastian Ahon the chain was difficult in Boston and the Bergeron chain was difficult in Raleigh.
Jordan Staalin led by Carolina’s brake chain on its edges Nino Niederreiter and Jesper Fast darkened the Bergerons magnificently.
– The home advantage and the advantage of the last exchange played a big role in this series. Special situations also played a crucial role. The Stalin chain put the Bergeron chain in check at home and I thought we were perhaps this much better at the goals. The loose discs were cleaned off and on the other hand a couple of goals were scored at close range today, Raanta thanked.
The victory was of particular importance to both the team and Raanna herself.
Raanta hadn’t started any playoff game in his nine-year NHL career before this spring. The number one guard at the end of the regular season Frederik Andersenin Rauma, who came to the scene, finally won three important home games and was in an absolutely excellent blow, especially in Sunday’s cut-off game.
The emotional turmoil after the match was in line with that.
– The first minute was just a shout, Raanta laughed.
– It was pure joy and certainly a little relief. When Freddie was injured and no one knew how long he was away, he felt like it was time for me to get up and take care of it. Yes in its first game I noticed I was pretty nervous, even though it went well.
Lukko’s breeder raised Sunday’s victory high in his own career achievements.
– This is a big deal for my NHL career. From there, the first goalkeeper on the Vezina level left, and I had to jump into my boots. Even so, this victory really means a lot to yourself. I noticed that as the spring progressed, the dudes also started to trust me completely. Now it is exactly which one we have in the finish line.
The win was also particularly important to the team as a team, as Boston had stopped Carolina in the playoffs in both spring 2019 and 2020.
– Whenever you come to a new gang, you have to find out for a while what the worst competitors are. Here it quickly became clear that Boston has had a pretty bad spike in meat for these guys. It was really great to have them overturned now, Raanta rejoiced.
It doesn’t matter to the opponent
Carolina’s journey continues in the second round of the playoffs in just a few days. It will next face either the New York Rangers or Pittsburgh, who will play their own series of stag games early Monday morning Finnish time. Enjoying Saturday night’s win, Raanta doesn’t care who Carolina meets.
– It is not possible to take it out, but maybe today you can enjoy yourself and even have a glass of wine. It doesn’t matter who we play against. I see that if we are able to play our own game in the future and develop our guest gaming a bit more, we will be strong in this race, Raanta decided.
Carolinan Teuvo Sharp scored and scored a goal for the match.