Getting a second chance
McElhinney, Hurricanes are within one win of blowing the Islanders out of the playoffs
RALEIGH, N.C. — Curtis McElhinney, the oldest goalie to get a start in the playoffs, knows you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
So, the career second-banana in his 11th NHL season, playing only because Carolina’s Petr Mrazek came up lame in Game 2 in Brooklyn, achieved his “bucketlist moment” Wednesday.
And he was not only celebrating his first playoff game that wasn’t a relief job, but he got a round of high-fives — not to mention a symphony of cheers from 19,000 loud and proud fans — after outplaying New York Islanders goalie Robin Lehner in a 5-2 win. A victory that throws the Islanders into a deep, dark, maybe-unclimbable hole to daylight, down 3-0 in the second-round series after sweeping Pittsburgh earlier.
“It was a lot of fun, my ears are still ringing,” admitted McElhinney, who led the team into the ice for the first time as a playoff starter after mopping up for Miikka Kiprusoff and Freddie Andersen in Calgary and Toronto, respectively, two of his vagabond seven NHL stops. But that was it.
He didn’t like Josh Bailey’s goal from 40 feet after a Warren Foegle giveaway in the second as he was down on his knees with the puck sailing by him, but he had no chance as Devon Toews’ earlier PP ripper that deflected off Brett Pesce in the first period.
“Just an enjoyable thing, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” McElhinney said.
“At the end of the day, it’s still a game and I’ve played a lot in my career, but, yeah, this one being a playoff game with us going up 3-0 in the series certainly makes it more important. For sure nerves are part of it, even at this point in my career. You want to have success but once I stepped on the ice it was business as usual,” said McElhinney, who got all the offensive help he needed with Teuvo Teravainen getting two, Sebastian Aho setting up Justin Williams for the winner and also getting one with Lehner on the bench, and Justin Faulk the other.
While McEhinney said it was another day at the office, Williams said that’s just the goalie’s makeup.
“It’s what he does … am I extremely proud and giddy for him? Absolutely,” Williams said. “I’ll show some emotion because he’s probably not. He’s probably not giving you (media) much, but it’s awesome. Can’t say enough good things about him, so I’ll stop there.”
‘Mr. Game 7’ Williams was ‘Mr. Game 3’ with the winner, and what else is new?
He finished off an Aho pass into the slot after the Finn, who got his first series points, knocked a Lehner clearance down from about a foot in the air.
“Listen, he’s matched against some of best players every single night. He gets the tough D pairings too. He does what he does out there, he creates out of nothing,” said Williams, who’s much the same.
“That was probably my worst opportunity of the night, had a couple of good looks earlier (one off the post) and funny that one goes in,” he said.
A dagger to the heart of Isles coach Barry Trotz, who counts Williams as one of his all-time favourite players after their time together in Washington.
“What do I like about Justin? He’s real. There’s players and there’s businessmen in every sport and Justin is a player. A hockey player. In all the quality areas he’s a leader,” Trotz said.
When asked what the destiny for the Canes is now, Williams, now 37, paused.
He didn’t stroke his greybeard like he was standing on the mount with a mighty proclamation to come. But his response was, as usual, a winner.
“Destiny’s not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice,” he said.
“We’ll wait for it and achieve it. We’re not waiting to see what happens, we’re preparing for it,” said the wise Williams after the Canes’ fifth straight playoff win, down 3-2 to Washington in the first series, now up 3-0 in Round 2.
While Trotz said his team losing the first two at home was “a punch in the nose” and they had to stop the bleeding here, there may be no bandage for this 3-0 deficit.
McElhinney, Williams and the Canes haven’t delivered the knock-out punch yet, but this win was like landing an overhand right to the kisser and a swift kick in the gut.
He wasn’t of a mood to blame Lehner, his Vezina finalist, even if he seemed to fight the puck much of the night, looking more jittery than McElhinney.
“We don’t fault anybody. We take it as a team,” he said.