For the fifth time this season, center Sebastian Aho scored the overtime-winning goal. He now ties the record for the most overtime-winning goals in a season.
A give-and-go with defenseman Jaccob Slavin resulted in an Aho one-timer from the face-off circle that Flames netminder Dustin Wolf had no chance on. All three skaters on the ice for overtime for Carolina — Aho, Slavin and right wing Jackson Blake were the sole point-scorers.
“There’s a lot of room out there,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “He can be creative. He’s competitive as heck. So those combinations suit him in [three-on-three hockey].”
Slavin scored the opening goal on a give-and-go play that he was the beneficiary of with Blake and the pair included Aho in the extra period. Despite the disparity in shot count, it was a hard-fought 2-1 win for Carolina (35-22-4) over Calgary (28-23-9).
The Canes came out of the gate smothering the Flames’ offense. Calgary didn’t record a shot on goal until 17:25 into the first period — the longest any team has gone this season before recording its first shot-on-goal.
While keeping the puck out of their end, the Hurricanes struggled to generate many quality chances of their own and the ones they did, Wolf or a Flames player blocked away. It wasn’t until 19:25 of the second period that they finally scored.
Left wing Taylor Hall made a check along the boards against Calgary center Nazem Kadri, forcing a turnover. Slavin quickly gathered the puck, charged up ice and put himself in position to tap in Blake’s feed at the back post before crashing into it.
“After the period, I came to him and said ‘great hit,’” Slavin said. “That’s what we need in our game, we need some more physicality. Finishing checks, even little ones like that obviously make a big difference in the game.”
Prior to Slavin’s goal, Canes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov had been keeping it a tie game at the other end. Although not tested much of the first, the Flames applied more heat in the middle frame, but no bigger save was made than Kochetkov’s poke check on Calgary center Morgan Frost.
Kochetkov saved 15 of 16 shots on goal and earned his 60th win with the franchise in 106 games. He sits behind teammate Frederik Andersen as the second-fastest goalie in franchise history to reach the mark.
The one he didn’t save came 7:06 into the third period on a slap shot from Kadri. Playing down two men, the Flames were operating a five-on-three power play that Kadri capitalized on just as the Canes were gaining back a fourth skater.
With 4:33 left in the game, left wing Jordan Martinook took a high stick that cut him open and right wing Andrei Svechnikov took exception, dropping the gloves with Calgary defenseman Joel Hanley.
Getting the crowd and the team fired up, Svechnikov energized a team that had four minutes of power play time to ice the game.
“Surprise, [I’m] always surprise,” Kochetkov said. “I always think about we a little bit quiet team. We very need sometimes a fight. We play more [like a] team, team building. This is good.”
Like the Hurricanes have all season, they couldn’t score on the power play. Four minutes of a man-advantage resulted in overtime being required. It was a trend that lasted the whole game as the Hurricanes’ power play units went 0/6 on the night.
The Canes dominated puck possession in overtime, and as a result, tired out the Flames defenders who couldn’t make the long line change. Looking for shooting angles, Blake, Slavin and Aho kept crossing over each other until Aho lost his man and squared his shoulders before slapping one over Wolf’s shoulder.
“You have a little bit of an opening, you see open ice, it’s hard to catch you there’s so much ice on 3-on-3 and there’s nobody to help you,” Aho said. “Good play by [Slavin], got a step on my guy and he realized it and I got a pretty good spot to shoot.”
The Canes will look to ride this momentum into Tuesday as they take on the Detroit Red Wings. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
