Hurricanes Beat Canadiens 6-1, Advance to Stanley Cup Final

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen started Game 5 against the Montreal Canadiens one day after his agent Claude Lemieux died by suicide. m. Thursday to a furniture store showroom in Lake Park, Florida, where one of Lemieux's sons found him in a rear warehouse.

Andersen made 23 saves in a 6-1 victory that gave the Hurricanes a 4-1 series win and their first Eastern Conference championship in 20 years. The team built a 4-0 lead in the first 27 minutes and 19 seconds. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said he did not know whether Andersen would be available after the news.

"You just don't know how that was going to shake out. But obviously, he shook it off and battled through it," Brind'Amour said. "You saw the emotion after the game.

"It's been a difficult couple of days. But the way we showed up today for each other is incredible. I can't talk about enough good things about this team and the way they supported me," he said. Captain Jordan Staal said the team played for Andersen.

"We were playing for him as best we could. It's a tough couple of days here for him, and we're just a family here, and we all felt that hurt," Staal said. "We tried to share as best we could and play well in front of him as best we could.

Lemieux had reached out before Game 3 to say he would carry the ceremonial pregame torch at Montreal's Bell Centre. He played seven seasons for the Canadiens and won the Stanley Cup with them in 1986. Lemieux had a 21-season NHL career and won four Stanley Cups.

He later became a successful agent, and Andersen was one of his first prominent clients. 41 goals-against average. The series victory marks the first time in his 13-year career that he will compete for the Stanley Cup.