Keep Coming Back

-Pittsburgh, PA

Just prior to warmups in advance of Game 5, it was released that Hurricanes star forward Filip Forsberg would not dress and rumors swirl that he will not be available for the rest of the series. No one would blame you if you thought that meant the Hurricanes were going to struggle offensively. However, in a shocking change of events the Hurricanes proved their critics wrong once again. 

A decisive Game 5 win seemed to come out of nowhere as the Hurricanes put 5 pucks past Devan Dubnyk in a 5-1 win over the Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center Thursday night. The classic adage held true of players stepping up in big moments as the Canes top line was held pointless and instead relied on each goal coming from their 2nd and 3rd lines, highlighted by a 4-point effort from Zack Smith. 

"We knew we were going to have to come out harder than before after losing Filip but just like we've said all year, we have an amazing group that won't quit" said Zack Smith following the game with a big smile. Also contributing to the win was veteran Matt Stajan with a two-goal effort and another solid performance from Carey Price.

"That is what I call a character win" said coach Willie Desjardins during his post-game press conference, "our guys stepped up tonight and showed that we are not a team to be taken lightly. We'll enjoy this win tonight and then we'll start preparing for what we know will be a tough game at home Saturday night. This series has been nothing short of a war with both teams fighting for every inch. I have full confidence that we will be ready to play Saturday night."

It has been a season of comebacks for the Hurricanes and they are hoping to provide another with a win on Saturday night. Much has been made of Carolina's 11-25-4 start to the season that they found a way to come back from leaping into a 3rd place finish in the dogfight of a Brendl divison. They've had to come back from pre-season predictions that had them missing the playoffs in the first place. Now, they will try to complete a series comeback. After falling down two games to nothing in this Eastern Conference Semi-Final series, Carolina has responded with three straight wins to climb out of that hole. This team will not quit and has proven that when they play hard, they can compete with any other team in the league. 

Game 6 is scheduled for Saturday night at 7PM. Canes fans should get there early around 5:30 for pre-game festivities with doors opening at 6. There are still tickets available so grab them while you can as this team looks to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014!

#RockTheRed