*Photo from Canes Country*
Oh man, this game was one to watch, especially when two of the top teams in the league live up to their billing. Vincent Trocheck scored, Sebastian Aho scored two goals, including the game winner, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-3 overtime win on Tuesday night.
This game lived up to the billing and then some. Vegas entered with two straight wins, and a 7 game winning streak on the road. Carolina was 8-2-1 in their last 11 games and riding high. In the end, it was a two goal night from Aho that was the difference maker, with the Hurricanes now 9-2-1 in their last 12 games.
Asked about his overtime winner, Aho said it was a "great read by Svechnikov. Not just reading the play, he won his battle there. He wanted that puck, which is the thing he does really well. He's strong and fast and made a nice play. Great pass. I had to bury that one."
After a scoreless first period, Nino Niederreiter got the Hurricanes on the board, with his 12th goal of the season making it 1-0 Hurricanes 4:44 into the second period. Trocheck then doubled the lead to 2-0 when he scored 57 seconds later, his 10th goal of the season. With 1:45 left in the second, Nolan Patrick tallied his second goal of the season, getting Vegas on the board and making it 2-1 after two periods.
On the power play 8:32 into the 3rd period, Aho made it a 3-1 lead on his first goal of the night and 18th of the season. Brett Howden then scored for the Golden Knights to cut the deficit to 3-2 on his 5th goal of the season. That led to Nicolas Hague scoring the game tying goal with less than 3 minutes to go, forcing overtime. In OT, Aho took the pass from Svechnikov and buried it to give Carolina the win.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour talked about the goalie battle, saying that "Both goalies played well. Their goalie kept them in it, I thought, early. Freddie, in the third period especially, made some big saves. Overtime, too, he made a couple there. That's what overtime does for you, you go back-and-forth there. We know he has to be one of our best players in there if we want to be successful and he has been all year."
It was Frederik Andersen who made the start for the Hurricanes, and he played exceptionally to backstop Carolina to a win. Andersen turned aside 26 of the 29 shots he faced from Vegas, with a .897 save percentage to improve his record to 22-6-0 in 27 starts and one relief appearance.
Golden Knights head coach Pete Deboer said that "Playing a very good team on the other side that is almost at full health and rested, this was a tough game on the schedule for us. Over a long season, it's important you find a way to get points in games like this. Maybe you don't deserve a point, but we hung around, our goalie was really good. We were opportunistic and got an important point."
Opposing Andersen on the other side of the ice was Vegas' Laurent Brossoit, making the start for the second half of a back to back. Brossoit saved 26 of the 30 shots the Hurricanes sent his way, posting a .867 save percentage as his record drops to 8-3-2 so far.
Both the Hurricanes and Golden Knights get back in action on Thursday, with Vegas heading south for another heavyweight tilt, this time against the Florida Panthers, with Robin Lehner the presumptive starting goalie. The Hurricanes enter Canada for a game with the Ottawa Senators, with Andersen likely to start again.
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