Playoff hockey. That’s what the Carolina Hurricanes are striving to participate in just a few weeks from now. Tuesday night in PNC Arena, they got a pretty good preview of it, from the atmosphere in the building to the tight game on the ice. And, most importantly, the Canes came out on top in a game with major playoff implications, edging the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in the shootout after tying the game with less than two minutes left.
Defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored the shootout winner for the Hurricanes (40-25-7), and forwards Justin Williams and Brock McGinn scored against the Penguins (39-24-11) in regulation. Goalie Petr Mrazek was phenomenal in net, stopping 36 of 38 shots in regulation and overtime and all three shooters he faced in the shootout.
“The whole game was tight,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Lots of scoring chances but just not a lot of goals. Playoff games are always tight and they always seem to come right to the end. Obviously, we got a positive outcome but it was a good effort from both teams.”
In the shootout, Hamilton scored on the first attempt, and no one found the back of the net after, with Mrazek stopping Penguins forwards Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel.
“Sometimes when those games are tight, you feel better,” Mrazek said. “You feel in the game better than when you’re up 5-0 and you don’t see many shots. Those games are, I think for every goalie, much more intense.”
With the Canes needing a goal late to tie it following a go-ahead tally from the Penguins with less than five minutes left, the captain delivered. Brind’Amour pulled Mrazek for an extra skater with over two minutes left, and it paid off. With 1:56 left, Williams swept home a rebound in front of the net to tie the game at two and ignite the crowd.
“This is why we play,” Williams said. “We want to play against the world’s best. We want to compete. That’s certainly what tonight was. It was a hard-fought effort that went the extra mile.”
Carolina got its first power play with 1:44 to play in regulation, but could not convert, sending the game to overtime. After Aho was slashed on a breakaway in overtime, the Canes got another power play, this one a 4-on-3, with 2:04 to play, but again could not find the back of the net before OT expired as the game went to the skills competition.
With 4:37 to play, the Penguins got behind the Canes’ defense on a three-on-one rush, and Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang finished off a tic-tac-toe play between Guentzel and Crosby for a 2-1 lead.
Before Letang’s goal, the Penguins had a golden chance to take the lead about halfway through the period on a mad scramble where the Canes could not corral a loose puck. Mrazek, however; kept the puck out with a series of point-blank stops, including a diving pokecheck on former Hurricanes forward Matt Cullen, who had an open net with Mrazek down and out of position.
“It’s awesome,” Brind’Amour said. “When you know you have a chance every time you screw up, and we had a lot of screw ups, but it doesn’t mean it’s going in our net, that’s a real good feeling. That’s not just for me; I’m not playing. The guys feel it. It enables us to continue to do what we’re trying to do and not have to change our game or chase the game too much if we’re down. So to me that’s the biggest difference this year is those guys have been great and the team’s responded.”
Mrazek made a couple big stops in the first to keep it scoreless, both on Penguins forward Nick Bjugstad. The first came on a wide-open tip shot from the slot, the other on a one-timer off an odd-man rush.
The Canes nearly took a 1-0 lead with about a minute left in the first, but forward Lucas Wallmark zipped a shot off the post from the slot.
Carolina broke the ice about halfway through the second period. McGinn took a slick cross-ice pass from Faulk between the circles on a delayed penalty sequence and snapped it past Penguins goalie Matt Murray to make it 1-0.
“I think in the playoffs you need all four lines to be going,” McGinn said. “I think on this team right now we have four really good lines that everybody can score and contribute. We’ve got to continue doing that going forward.”
The lead did not last long; just 38 seconds after McGinn’s goal, Guentzel evened the score with a slapshot from the top of the circles.
With the shootout win (which gives the Penguins a point in the standings) and a loss by the New York Islanders, the Canes move within two points of the Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand, four of the Islanders for second with a game in hand and stay four points up on the Montreal Canadiens, the first team outside the playoff picture, with a game in hand.
The Canes will continue this five-game homestand with a visit from the NHL’s best team in the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night.
“I think we’re a confident group,” Brind’Amour said. “When you do it right, and you have a good foundation I think you feel like there’s going to be hiccups along the way but I think the guys have believed in it all year. You’re never out of a game.”
Right winger Justin Williams dribbles the puck into Pittsburgh Penguins territory in PNC Arena, Tuesday, March 19. Williams went on to score during the third period, tying the game 2-2, leading to an overtime victory by Dougie Hamilton. The Canes won at home, 3-2.
