NEW YORK — Sebastian Aho scored 1:14 into overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from three goals down to beat the New York Islanders 4-3.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a goal and an assist, Jalen Chatfield and Dmitry Orlov also scored and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists for Carolina, which has won four of five. Antti Raanta had 22 saves.
Aho scored in the extra period just after Raanta denied Ryan Pulock´s point-blank shot. “They had one chance and we had one chance in overtime,´´ Aho said according to AP. “Good thing I was able to bury that one.”
Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist, and Noah Dobson and Simon Holmstrom also scored for the Islanders, who are 3-0-2 in their last five games. Bo Horvat had two assists, and Ilya Sorokin finished with 43 saves.
“They come hard and we just didn´t make enough plays in the third,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “We turned it over and they continued to come back.”
Elsewhere, Thatcher Demko made 27 saves in his second shutout of the season, and the Vancouver Canucks beat Jake Oettinger and the Dallas Stars 2-0.
Pius Suter and Elias Pettersson scored in the second period as the Canucks improved to 4-0-1 at home. Vancouver (8-2-1) is 5-0-1 in its last six games.
It was Demko’s fifth career shutout. He is 7-0-0 against Dallas. “It feels great to see that commitment level, and you can tell the guys are playing for one another,” the 27-year-old Demko said.
“It´s a special feeling when that kind of takes over the room. We know we´ve been playing some good hockey, but obviously we still have to continue to grow. It´s one game at a time. Enjoy tonight but get back to work.”
Oettinger stopped 26 shots for the Stars (7-2-1), who had won three in a row and six of seven overall.
“We had a couple opportunities to maybe get the first goal, which I think would have been critical tonight,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said.
“They got it. I think it was one of those nights where whoever gets that first goal, it´s a big advantage. It looked, right from the start, like neither goalie was going to give up a whole lot.”
Each team came up empty on the power play. Vancouver went 0 for 5 against the NHL´s second-best penalty kill, while Dallas was 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
“I like our penalty kills,” said Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, who made that a point of emphasis for improvement this season and now has Vancouver up to a success rate of better that 78 per cent. “We´ve had some unfortunate 5-on-3s this year, some goals. But structurally, I think we´ve done a nice job.”
A fast-paced first period was scoreless thanks to strong goaltending at both ends. The highlight was a point-blank glove save on Wyatt Johnston by Demko during the Stars´ first power play, just more than five minutes in.
“That was a huge save,” said Dallas forward Sam Steel. “He put a good shot on it, too. A lot of times those go in, and it´s a big save. I guess it shifted momentum a bit.”
The Canucks opened the scoring 4:21 into the second, when Suter worked a give-and-go with Dakota Joshua before breaking to the slot and directing the puck past Oettinger´s glove hand. It was Suter´s second goal this season, and second in two games.
With 5:06 left in the middle period, Pettersson connected for his sixth goal on a sharp one-timer off a pinpoint pass from Filip Hronek.
“I saw he looked over, so I was hoping for him to find me there, which he did,” Pettersson said. “Hronek can skate the puck well and he´s got good skills out there as well.”
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