RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Frederik Andersen has stayed as calmly consistent as it gets in the NHL playoffs. That's helped the Carolina Hurricanes make it back to the Eastern Conference final for the second time in three seasons.
The 35-year-old veteran has the best save percentage and goals-against average in the postseason among goalies with multiple starts, notably by holding opponents to one or zero goals in six of his nine starts. He's coming off giving up six goals in five second-round games against the Washington Capitals, who posted the conference's best regular-season record and was second behind Winnipeg for the Presidents' Trophy.
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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) directs traffic against the Washington Capitals during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Semi-final round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes' Sean Walker (26) clears the puck away from goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and Washington Capitals' Lars Eller (20) during the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Semi-final round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, right, celebrates with defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4) and defenseman Sean Walker (26) after Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Washington Capitals Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) stops the puck in the third period of Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Washington Capitals Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
“He's just doing what we knew he could always do,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said Saturday as the Hurricanes await the end of the Florida-Toronto series to learn their next opponent. “He's been the backbone of our team for sure, all playoffs. And we've relied on him heavily in the sense he's making that big save for us that allows us to win these games.”
Andersen has posted elite numbers so far.
He's 7-2 with a 1.36 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage. No other starting goaltender has a sub-2.00 GAA in the playoffs entering the weekend. And he's been a perfect backstop for a defense that has smothered its first two foes.
“I just try to be as good as possible in every situation, and be in the moment in whatever comes in front of me and in whatever situation in the game,” Andersen said before the Hurricanes' Game 5 closeout of the Caps. "I don't get to decide how much we have the puck, how much they have the puck and how many times they shoot it.
“I've just got to put myself in the best position to make saves in whatever situation comes.”
Two things have stood out in Andersen's postseason through two rounds. One is how firmly he's grabbed the role of no-doubt, every-game starter in this postseason.
“He gave us the ‘I want the net,’ and that's all you need to hear,” coach Rod Brind'Amour said before Game 4 of the first-round series against New Jersey.
The other has been his durability so far after health and injury issues of recent year. The only hiccup in these playoffs was an early exit in Game 4 against the Devils due to a hit by a skating-in Timo Meier that sidelined him for the Game 5 clincher, though a long break between rounds had him back in the crease for Game 1 against Washington.
He's had strong postseason stretches before, notably when the Hurricanes last reached the Eastern final in 2023 and his 1.83 GAA was second among goalies with multiple postseason starts. But the health issues had been more frequent, from him missing the 2022 playoffs due to a lower-body injury late in the regular season to appearing in just 16 regular-season games last season due to a blood-clotting issue.
This year, he missed November, December and most of January due to knee surgery then returned as part of a rotation with 25-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov.
“I just kind of enjoy being out here," Andersen said. "I think that's one of the bigger things for me. You guys obviously know my history the last couple of years with some things that no one wants to have happen to you. You go through it and it's a good reminder of how precious this time you get to play the sport is.”
Andersen's play has been an integral part of Carolina's elite defensive efforts through two rounds, fitting perfectly in with the Hurricanes' efforts to smother opponents with an aggressive forecheck, control the puck in the offensive zone to pressure defenders — and thereby minimize some of the chances Andersen has to stop.
To that point, Andersen has faced as many as 30 shots on goal only once in the postseason. The Capitals never managed more than 21 shots in any game, and had seven or fewer shots in 11 of 15 regulation periods. And he recently signed a one-year contract extension to return next season alongside Kochetkov.
In the meantime, keeping Andersen fresh and healthy is a priority. After all, the Hurricanes are merely at the halfway point in their pursuit to win a second Stanley Cup, the other coming in 2006 with Brind'Amour as captain.
“When Freddie is in net, he’s a stud and he’s been a stud his whole career,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said after Thursday's win in Washington. “You guys always talk about his calmness and he’s a rock, just makes things look easy.”
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) directs traffic against the Washington Capitals during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Semi-final round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes' Sean Walker (26) clears the puck away from goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and Washington Capitals' Lars Eller (20) during the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Semi-final round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, right, celebrates with defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4) and defenseman Sean Walker (26) after Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Washington Capitals Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) stops the puck in the third period of Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Washington Capitals Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said.
Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon.
The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.
Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said.
Investigators were not yet sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom where he opened fire. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence’s mayor said.
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The unthinkable has happened,” said Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, who vowed that all resources were being deployed to catch the suspect.
Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place remained in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it is lifted. Streets that normally bustle with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.
“The Brown community’s heart is breaking, and Providence’s heart is breaking along with it,” Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she sheltered for several hours.
Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition, said Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Six required intensive care but were not getting worse, and two were stable, she said.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, but later said that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.
The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was a finalist earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.
Biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
Mari Camara, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.
Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.
President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”
Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the U.S. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City and Durkin Richer from Washington. Associated Press journalists Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed.
Law enforcement officials carry rifles on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A police officer hangs yellow crime tape at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
People board a bus in a neighborhood near Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Students are escorted by law enforcement officers to a building at Brown University after a shooting, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I.. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A law enforcement official walks past articles of clothing on a sidewalk near an entrance to Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials carry rifles while walking on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials walk near an entrance to Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
In this image from video, law enforcement officials gather outside the Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
FILE - The logo for Brown University is displayed at the school's campus in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
