Frederik Andersen returns from missing end of 1st round to help Hurricanes beat Capitals in Game 1

WASHINGTON AP Frederik Andersen had no choice but to sit and watch his Carolina Hurricanes teammates clinch their first-round series conquest and move on in the NHL playoffs A week later he was back in net and delivered the kind of quality goaltending they ve gotten from him whenever he has been healthy Andersen stopped of the shots he faced as the Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals - in overtime in Tournament of their second-round series Just really been looking forward to this for a while Andersen stated Happy we could start off on the right foot Andersen was Carolina s starter to begin the postseason and turned aside of shots before getting injured when New Jersey forward Timo Meier barreled into him in the second period of Meeting last round He gave way to backup Pyotr Kotchekov who finished the job that night and did enough to advance with an overtime supremacy in Contest Extra time off allowed Andersen a -year-old Dane in his th season in the league to heal up He was not tested much in the opener at Washington but even the lack of action he had made it more challenging for a veteran coming off a long layoff Well that s tough it seems easy coach Rod Brind Amour explained He s been here long enough to know you got to stay focused And I thought he did a good job The Hurricanes pummeled the Capitals with shots attempts that got on net two of which went in past Logan Thompson and that got blocked before reaching him After Logan Stankoven tied it midway through the third period Andersen took space away on Ryan Leonard s breakaway with just under six minutes a play that did not count as a save but contributed to sending the tournament to overtime You could tell he was on it Brind Amour mentioned That was a huge one for us Carolina has been used to playing without Andersen who missed half of - getting medication for blood clots and was out for a limited months this season after knee surgery But the organization demonstrated how major Andersen is signing him between rounds to a contract for next season one that could see him earn up to million In his first tournament since getting that deal Andersen rewarded the Hurricanes by making the saves he needed to make to give them a series led He s huge for us Stankoven disclosed We re trying at the other end to create offense and when we do give up chances or there are breakdowns he s there for us And he s been great all playoffs for us so we re going to need him to keep playing like that AP NHL playoffs https apnews com hub stanley-cup and https apnews com hub nhl Source