Cole unlikely OT hero for Hurricanes in Game 1
Defenseman's second playoff goal defeats Rangers in Eastern Second Round
"A little claustrophobic," joked the Carolina Hurricanes defenseman.
This was seconds after Cole's quick-flick wrist shot from the top of the right circle found the back of the net at 3:12 of overtime for a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at PNC Arena on Wednesday.
"I was looking to pass it to someone and no one was really anywhere dangerous so I was like, 'Oh, I'll just throw it on net and see what happens,' " Cole said. "Hockey is a game of weird bounces and it just happened to go in. Not the prettiest, but we'll take it."
This was all so new for Cole. He is usually one of the players pouring over the boards to celebrate with a teammate who scores in overtime. He's never been the OT hero himself, not in the regular season and, until 9:51 p.m. ET on Wednesday, not in the Stanley Cup Playoffs either.
It was Cole's second career playoff goal; his first came with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period Game 4 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks. He has scored 29 goals in 670 regular-season games, including two in 75 with Carolina this season.
"That's what's great about this game, you just don't know who is going to be the guy," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Now he has that moment forever. I think that's what makes it special. You count on everyone, but it's nice that other guys that you don't talk about all the time can be a part of that and feel these special moments."
RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Rangers series coverage]
The Hurricanes really had to work and show some resiliency in Game 1 for Cole to get his moment.
They didn't come close to playing the way they want and expect to play through the first two periods, when the Rangers were outshooting the Hurricanes 23-14 and leading 1-0 on Filip Chytil's goal at 7:07 of the first period.
"We pride ourselves in playing a direct, north game and we did not get to that to the level that we wanted to," Cole said. "There were some sporadic shifts in there but generally speaking we were not happy with our first two periods. I think one thing our team is good at is trying to be as objective as possible in assessing our game and realizing that wasn't good enough, we didn't get to where we wanted to be, how do we fix it? There's still time to turn this game around. Just because we're losing 1-0 doesn't mean the game is over. We have a period here, let's go do it the right way and do it how we want to and fix the problem. We came out with a lot of desperation and the right mindset and you see how the tide turned at that time."
Brind'Amour made line changes for the start of the third period. He put Teuvo Teravainen on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, moved Andrei Svechnikov to the second line to play with Vincent Trocheck and Martin Necas, and dropped Max Domi to the fourth line.
The Hurricanes all of a sudden looked like a different team from the one that slogged through the first two periods and were thoroughly outplayed by the Rangers. They looked, well, like themselves.
They outshot New York 7-0 in the first five minutes. Nino Niederreiter hit the crossbar on a clear breakaway from the blue line in at 12:37. Aho hit the crossbar when he was partially in alone on goalie Igor Shesterkin through the right circle at 17:13.
Those pings could have been deflating.
"You're thinking, maybe we're getting what we deserve here," Brind'Amour said. "But I liked the fact that we just kept coming."
Aho finally broke through 24 seconds later, scoring off his own rebound at 17:37 to tie it 1-1. Carolina outshot New York 10-4 and had a 23-9 edge in total shot attempts in the third period.
"It's the attitude and the way we played that period," Brind'Amour said. "When you're down you have to up your game and that's what happens. Kudos to our guys, they got it going. Certainly, it was a good third period, but we're not going to get away with that, not playing two periods, especially this time of year."
Antti Raanta allowed them to get away with it in Game 1 by keeping it 1-0 when the Rangers were pressuring, especially in the first period. He did a full split to stop Chytil at the right post with his left skate at 14:40 and made a sprawling left pad save on Ryan Reaves at 18:57.
"Just trying to do whatever you can to keep the puck out," Raanta said.
He did it enough to give the Hurricanes a chance. Aho made good on it, ultimately setting up Cole for his big moment.
"It's great having all your boys jump on your and give you hugs," Cole said. "Visor got a little fogged up, hair got in my face, so I couldn't really see anything, but probably the only time I like that."
