Hurricanes Carve Unusual Path to Victory Over Maple Leafs
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When you are in need of a clutch goal, rely on the defensemen. A strange reality, but one the Carolina Hurricanes have lived for two games in a row.
Throughout the entire contest, the Hurricanes did not score a single natural goal. Nonetheless, they still defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime in a truly unique game filled with personal milestones and achievements.
One of those milestones was hit the moment Taylor Hall stepped on the ice. It was his 100th game as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, after having been traded in the old three-team Mikko Rantanen deal.
In the first period, Dakota Joshua scored to put the Leafs ahead by one, but that was all she wrote for the early twenty minutes as both teams played back and forth with the puck.
The Game Came Alive in the Second Period
Early in the second frame, Andrei Svechnikov and ex-Hurricane Max Domi collided at the Leafs’ blue line. Svechnikov, who was shaken up, was briefly tended to by head athletic trainer Doug Bennett before making his way to the bench, and later, to the locker room. However, he was able to return near the halfway mark.
In the shift after Svechnikov’s injury, Eric Robinson took a high-stick to the face from Brandon Carlo – shedding some blood for a double minor. In the final seconds of the four-minute power play, Jordan Staal proved once again to be one of the best things to happen to the man-advantage for Carolina this season as he tipped in a shot from Seth Jarvis.
Afterwards, Robinson showed up yet again for his team, drawing a hooking penalty from Troy Stecher on the breakaway. He was given a chance for a penalty shot – the first attempt in his NHL career – and proceeded to slip a nice little wrister past Joseph Woll to give Carolina their first lead of the night.
However, that lead was short-lived. Just 72 seconds later, John Tavares worked his way around the back of Brandon Bussi’s net and swept the puck in through the five-hole.
In the last minutes of the second frame, Sean Walker was thrown into the penalty box for tripping Matthew Knies. However, Walker’s defensive partner wasn’t satisfied with just killing off the penalty, and instead, carried the puck all the way down the ice for the first shorthanded goal of his NHL career.
It was the second game in a row for the Hurricanes to score a shorty.
The third period came, and with a few minutes left, William Nylander squeaked in a goal to force overtime.
Three-on-Three Action
When overtime commenced, the game-winner came from the stick of a player for the very first time: Alexander Nikishin. The rookie defenseman had just come onto the ice in place of Jaccob Slavin as Jarvis sent it his way, but he didn’t have it for long. Quickly skating to the right face-off circle, he wasted no time – launching it through an incidental Leafs screen and past Woll after only 41 seconds had been played. It was not only the first overtime goal of Nikishin’s NHL career, but also his first game-winning goal. For the second game in a row, the Hurricanes’ overtime game winner came from a defenseman.
The game marked an unusual method to victory, as all four of the Hurricanes goals did not come at five-on-five. Instead, they were on the power play, as a penalty shot, shorthanded, and at three-on-three in overtime.
Also Read:: How a New Responsibility Led Alexander Nikishin to Make History With Hurricanes
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