‘We live to fight another day.’ For the Carolina Hurricanes, that’s all that matters

When the doors to the Carolina Hurricanes locker room swung open Saturday night, defenseman Brent Burns already was on a stationary bike, pedaling, sweating, pushing himself.

Seth Jarvis walked by, smiling, laughing, slapping palms with Burns. Nearby, Dmitry Orlov was busily lifting weights, getting in a post-game bench press. Others did the same.

Justin Williams, once the Canes captain, made his way into the room, congratulating everyone in sight and having a few happy words with Evgeny Kuznetsov, once his teammate with the Washington Capitals and a goal-scorer for the Canes on Saturday.

Had things gone differently, had the Hurricanes lost to the New York Rangers, had their season ended, the place would have been empty. And gloomy.

But the Hurricanes did not lose. They lost their lead in the third period of Game 4 of their Stanley Cup playoff series, but they did not lose the game. Brady Skjei’s late power-play goal was the difference in a 4-3 victory that staved off playoff elimination, kept the Rangers from a four-game sweep and earned the Hurricanes a trip back to New York for Game 5.

“Whenever that next game is,” Canes center Sebastian Aho said.

That was telling. Aho and the Canes insisted their focus was squarely on winning Game 4, only that. Any talk of a dramatic comeback, series win and a piece of NHL history had been shelved.

Game 5 is Monday. Aho and the Canes will be there, ready again, with tunnel vision.

As Skjei put it, “Our mindset is just ‘Win the day.’ We’re still in win-or-go home, so every game from here on will have the same message in the locker room.”

The Canes led 3-1 after the first period Saturday, finding holes against goalie Igor Shesterkin and making him pay. Kuznetsov ripped a short-side shot for the first goal. Stefan Noesen bounded in to score off a rebound. Aho scored from the slot. PNC Arena was very loud.

“We did what we needed to do. That was a strong start,” Aho said. “You want to put pressure on their D and forecheck hard, and we were able to do that in the first period and we got a lot of offense out of it. We got some loose pucks and were able to cash in.”

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette didn’t like falling behind, but liked how his team responded to falling behind. The Rangers were stronger in the second, better defensively, quicker to pucks, and made it a 3-2 game on a Barclay Goodrow redirection.

“I thought our guys really pushed back into the game,” Laviolette said.

And then tied it in the third. Alexis Lafreniere’s quick backhander from the side of the net found a hole near the post, hit goalie Frederik Andersen in the backside and went in. Andersen dipped his head. PNC Arena was silent other than rowdy Rangers fans who found their way into the building.

“One thing I appreciate about this group, all year, and forever we’ve been doing this, we always seem to be able to focus on, whatever happens good or bad, the next play,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s basically what happened. I don’t know if we were great the rest of the way but we certainly didn’t go the other way, which could’ve happened.”

The Rangers emptied the net in the final two minutes for a sixth attacker but could not tie it up. Artemi Panarin, who had the between-the-legs winner in the second overtime of Game 3, had three shots blocked. Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad also had attempts blocked as the Canes and Andersen held firm.

Andersen, who did not play Game 3, stopped 22 of 25 shots Saturday, and had some scrambling moments. But he made a tough pad stop on a Jacob Trouba tip off the rush with four minutes left in regulation and the score 3-3 and battled his way to the end.

Brind’Amour could go back to goalie Pyotr Kochetkov for Game 5 or stick with Andersen again after the first win in the series.

“The one thing about Freddie is we know he’s very even keel,” Brind’Amour said. “He never gets too high or too low. He’s a pro.”

Brind’Amour said the fourth game might have been his team’s “least effective” in the series. The Rangers, he said, played well.

“Hockey is weird,” Brind’Amour said. “You get the bounce here or there. You get a shot that goes in. That’s what happened.

“”But we live to fight another day. That’s the most important thing.”