‘We lived to fight another day’: Jordan Staal sets the tone for Hurricanes’ comeback

Evgeny Kuznetsov joked that Jordan Staal predicted he was going to score Monday, maybe do his version of the birdman celebration, arm flaps and all.

Staal wasn’t so sure of that after the game, but smiled and said, “There’s been a lot of guys telling me I was going to score for a while.”

And he did. And a big score it would be.

The Carolina Hurricanes, with 20 minutes separating them from a disappointing end to their season, to their Stanley Cup hopes, needed someone to step up and deliver in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoff series against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Staal led the way as the Canes scored four times in the third period for a 4-1 victory that has the Rangers now leading 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series and Game 6 set for PNC Arena on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour was asked about Staal, about being the captain, about the tone Staal sets for the rest of the team each day.

“We take a lot of pride in how we play and he’s the kind of go-to on all that, how you handle yourself, how you prepare every game,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s at the top of the food chain.”

So with the Canes trailing 1-0 after two periods Monday, with Rangers goalie Igor Shesterlin putting together an elite effort in net, and celebrities being shown on the big Garden scoreboard — Wayne Gretzky, Will Arnett, those kind of folks — and everyone having a grand old time, Staal scored.

The Rangers had snuffed out a Canes power play to begin the third period. Again, New York had been the better team on special teams, getting a shorthanded goal from their captain, Jacob Trouba, in the second period. All was in order.

Then, Staal struck.

Coming off the bench on a change and taking a cross-ice lead pass from defenseman Dmitry Orlov, the big center skated past defenseman Braden Schneider, faked a forehand shot and used his long reach to get off a backhander. Staal had his first goal of the playoffs and Shesterkin had been beaten for the first time Monday.

“Just an incredible play by him,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said. “The whole game he was leading us. That’s what the captain does. Everyone jumped on his back.”

And so it all turned — the momentum, the game, the series.

Kuznetsov, who didn’t predict a goal of his own, scored on a rebound as the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin flailed at him from behind. Martinook scored from the slot off a Martin Necas pass after a Jack Drury forecheck. Suddenly Shesterkin was catching it from all directions.

“No one was hanging their heads,” Staal said. “We knew we had to have our best period, and we did. We’re fighting for our lives and the boys showed up.”

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette pulled Shesterkin early for a sixth attacker but that didn’t help or generate anything. Necas grabbed the puck and gave it a fling down ice into an empty net.

Before long, the Hurricanes were packing up for the trip back to Raleigh and some more hockey business — Game 6. No handshakes after this game. They play on.

After the Hurricanes lost the first three games to the Rangers, several of the Canes players mentioned the “belief in the room” and said they could claw their way back into the series. It wasn’t idle chatter.

Forget that just four NHL teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. Forget that the Rangers had the home-ice advantage. Forget they had Shesterkin, one of the NHL’s best.

The Canes had that belief. They won Game 4 at home, refusing to be swept. They’ve won at the Garden, and in impressive fashion.

“We trusted our game and it ended up paying off,” Staal said. “And we lived to fight another day.”