RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jesper Fast deflected in a shot by Jesperi Kotkaniemi on a power play at 7:09 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a series-ending 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Fast’s deflection while shielding Akira Schmid set off a celebration for the Hurricanes, who never led until the final play and twice trailed by a goal before winning the best-of-seven series 4-1 to reach the Eastern Conference final.
Carolina got the overtime power play when Jonas Siegenthaler was sent to the box for a delay-of-game penalty for sending the puck out of play from his own zone.
Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns also scored for Carolina, and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves. The Hurricanes will face the winner of the Florida-Toronto series, with the Panthers leading that one 3-1.
Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier scored for New Jersey. Schmid stopped 36 shots.
STARS 5, KRAKEN 2
DALLAS (AP) — Roope Hintz had two goals and had an assist, Joe Pavelski scored his seventh goal of the second-round series and Dallas beat Seattle in Game 5 to move within a victory of the Western Conference finals.
Pavelski also had an assist on Hintz’s second goal, which ricocheted hard out of the net with 8:37 left for a two-goal lead, though play continued for nearly a half-minute before a replay review that confirmed the score. Radek Faksa added an empty-netter with 3:17 to go.
Dallas will take a 3-2 lead into Game 6 on Saturday in Seattle, where the teams split a pair of lopsided games. The Kraken won 7-2 in Game 3, then the Stars rebounded with a 6-3 win in Game 4.
Wyatt Johnston scored for Dallas and Jake Oettinger made 29 saves. Adam Larsson and Jared McCann scored for Seattle.
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