Thursday's Stanley Cup Playoffs features two vital games. The earlier, Eastern Conference game ended in a thrilling overtime victory for the Hurricanes against the Devils. The loss ends New Jersey's season, while Carolina rolls on into the Eastern Conference Final.
Jesper Fast was the overtime hero, and he ended a rather brief and lopsided series against New Jersey. In their four wins, the Hurricanes outscored the Devils by a wide margin, 20-5. Now, Carolina will play either the Florida Panthers or Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the other game on Thursday's slate, the Dallas Stars host the Seattle Kraken in a massive Game 5. Both teams have a chance at taking a 3-2 series lead.
Follow this page for updates on Thursday's games, and here's a look at all the scores for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Hurricanes defeat Devils in OT, advance to ECF
The Carolina Hurricanes are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals thanks to an overtime goal from Jesper Fast. With 7:09 elapsed in overtime, Fast deflected a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot past Akira Schmid to end the series with a 3-2 win in Game 5.
It was a very on-brand win for the Hurricanes, who scored all three of their goals on point shots. Two defensemen, Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns beat Schmid with seeing-eye shots in the second period, and Kotkaniemi's shot caught a piece of Fast on the way to the net in overtime.
For the Devils, it was a frustrating end to a frustrating series. With 5:44 remaining in the second period, Timo Meier was standing in front of a wide open net with the puck on his stick. All he had to do was jam it home to give New Jersey a 3-1 lead, but he flubbed his shot and sent the puck skittering harmlessly through the crease.
The Devils had more missed chances like that throughout the game, and those will haunt them all offseason.
Those squandered chances aside, the Hurricanes did control most of this series with three blowout wins prior to this overtime victory. Carolina will now get some time to rest as it awaits the winner of the series between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.
