Goaltending was supposed to be the one position in which the New York Islanders might have an advantage over the Carolina Hurricanes during their first-round series.
That has not been the case as Carolina's Frederik Andersen has outplayed both Islanders goalies (Semyon Varlomov and Ilya Sorokin), helping his team take a commanding 3-0 series lead. The third of those wins came on Thursday night with the Hurricanes taking a 3-2 game on Long Island.
Andersen played a starring role in that win by making a couple of highlight-reel saves. The best and most significant of those saves came with less than five minutes to play in the third period when he made a sensational glove save after being knocked to the ice and falling down.
Have a look.
️ FREDDIE! ️ FREDDIE! ️ FREDDIE! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/WnmIrYCMMs
— NHL (@NHL) April 26, 2024
He made another incredible save earlier in the game with the Hurricanes leading 1-0 in the first period.
OH, Freddie.
— NHL (@NHL) April 26, 2024
Frederik Andersen has made some JAW-DROPPING saves during these #StanleyCup Playoffs.
: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/Pp9X7OGP3W
: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/sEijvXhbA1 pic.twitter.com/LI55esFWs8
Saves like that have helped Andersen put a .922 save percentage on the board in the series. Carolina has one of the best all-around teams in the NHL at forward and defense, and if it can keep getting this level of goaltending from Andersen, it are is only going to be an incredibly difficult team to beat, it will have a great chance of winning the whole thing.
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