Can Hurricanes’ Andrei Svechnikov use Game 5 goal to break away to bigger things?

Can more than 18,000 people collectively hold their breath, then exhale in a cheer loud enough to shake a building?

Andrei Svechnikov made that happen Thursday, in a matter of seconds.

The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers were locked in a tight Stanley Cup playoff game at PNC Arena, the Canes leading 2-1 in the third period of Game 5 and the series tied 2-2. Everyone seemed to sense the next goal, if there was one, would be a game-maker or game-breaker.

Svechnikov sensed it and did something about it.. Tipping the puck away from Rangers defenseman Adam Fox near the red line at center ice, the Canes forward suddenly was in motion, on a breakaway, bearing down on the Rangers goalie.

That would be Igor Shesterkin. Before Game 5, there had been talk of Shesterkin “getting in the heads” of the Canes with some near-brilliant play, thwarting them at every turn during the series.

That included Svechnikov, who was without a point in the series before Thursday and aware that he needed to be better, that the Canes were counting on him to be better.

“Of course I expect a little bit more,” Svechnikov said before Game 4 in New York. “I just try to go and work hard every time. I know it’s going to come. I know those important goals are going to come, as well.”

So there was No. 37, going down the ice, the two young Russian players suddenly one on one.

It was one of those moments of truth that pop up in hockey games. Svechnikov settled the puck and went backhand, sliding it through Shesterkin’s pads — the “5 hole” — as he swept past.

It was 3-1, Canes, with about seven minutes left in regulation, Svechnikov had his fourth goal of the playoffs and PNC Arena has rarely been louder.

“That was a huge goal, at the right time,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I don’t know that he was playing lights-out to that point, but that type of player has that ability to out of nowhere make something happen.”

Granted, it was loud when Vincent Trocheck scored shorthanded Thursday for the Canes’ first goal, even louder when Teuvo Teravainen beat Shesterkin for the Canes’ first power-play goal of the series. But No. 37 with the puck on his stick in full flight creates anticipation unlike any other Canes player, it seems.

Trocheck is an aggressive, aggravating kind of player, combative and gritty. Teravainen is the quiet Finn with undeniable skills, a smooth playmaker with a wickedly good shot when he uses it.

Svechnikov is all about strength, skill and power. And while he became a 30-goal scorer this season for the first time in his career, it’s almost as if at age 22 he’s still scratching the surface of what he can be.

“He plays a hard game and it’s a hard game to play,” Brind’Amour said Friday. “Last night he gets one, but he’s been playing well. He has that ability to score at any time. That’s what make him special.”

Svechnikov’s breakaway score could be a springboard for him in the playoffs. If the Canes are to continue to advance, No. 37 will be counted on for more, and he has been a streaky kind of player when it comes to scoring goals.

“Svechy is going to get his goals,” Trocheck said. “He plays hard every night.”

Game 6 against the Rangers is Saturday in New York and the Canes are still without a road win in the playoffs. Svechnikov could help change that.

“Obviously we need him to score if we’re going to win games, and this time of year especially,” Brind’Amour said.