Aho sends Hurricanes to Round 2 after Mercer's double minor in 2OT
The Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday with a 5-4 double overtime win to advance to the second round for the fifth straight season.
Sebastian Aho fired the winning goal on the power play in Game 5 after Devils forward Dawson Mercer took a double minor for high-sticking.
Carolina will face either the Washington Capitals or the Montreal Canadiens in Round 2. The Eastern Conference-winning Capitals own a 3-1 series lead over the Habs.
Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 48 saves, including 16 in the overtime periods. New Jersey was outshot 17-4 after regulation.
Carolina trailed 3-0 within the opening 10 minutes of the game but roared back early in the second period. Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake, and Andrei Svechnikov tallied goals in a 3:54 span to tie the game under six minutes into the middle frame.
Devils captain Nico Hischier answered to give New Jersey a brief 4-3 lead. Aho evened the contest 4:01 later on the power play to cap the wild five-goal second period.
Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 31 of 35 shots he faced in his first start of the postseason. Frederik Andersen was sidelined with an injury sustained in Game 4.
"It's not a great feeling losing, losing like that," New Jersey forward Timo Meier said, according to team reporter Sam Kasan. "Everybody competed so hard, worked so hard. ... We can get better. We don't like the result."
Hischier pointed to special teams as the biggest reason for his club's downfall. The Devils went 0-for-15 on the power play and owned a penalty kill success rate of 68.4%.
"That's why we lost the series, for sure," he said. "We couldn't get the power play going. That's on those guys, including me, that are on the ice. That's definitely frustrating."
The Devils fought valiantly in the series despite significant injuries to their blue line. Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon got hurt in Game 1, and New Jersey was without Johnathan Kovacevic for the past two games.
Superstar Jack Hughes also hasn't played since early March.
"It sucks," rearguard Brett Pesce said. "There's no way around it. Losing isn't fun. I am super proud of the way everyone fought. We faced a ton of adversity. Guys dug in. That's a good hockey team over there. They're a legit team. We never went away. Super proud of them."
He added, "I'm already excited for next year because playoff experience matters a ton."
Head coach Sheldon Keefe gave major credit to young defenseman Simon Nemec, who entered the lineup in Game 2 and scored the overtime winner in Game 3.
"We would’ve got swept, had no chance without Nemo stepping up," he said, according to NJ.com's Gabriel Trevino.
Keefe added that he knew after Game 1 that Dillon and Luke Hughes would be out for the remainder of the series.