*Photo from TSN*
The game is never over until the final horn sounds. The Carolina Hurricanes are the perfect example of that. Brady Skjei scored, Seth Jarvis scored the winning goal, and the Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday afternoon in Newark.
Marred in a dogfight with the New York Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division, the games are still important for the Hurricanes, who have won 3 straight games. With the win and Rangers loss on Saturday, the Hurricanes are in sole possession of first place in the Metro, having been tied entering play on Saturday.
Skjei said of his second period goal that "That's kind of what we're taught as a team. As defensemen, we want to get as many pucks to the net as we can, even if it's not on net. You never know what'll happen, if it goes off the leg or someone tips it."
After a scoreless first period, Yegor Sharangovich got the Devils on the board in the second. He scored on the power play 15:43 into the second period, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead on his 23rd goal of the season. In the 3rd period, the Devils took a 2-0 lead on Nico Hischier's 21st goal of the season, coming 8:30 into the 3rd.
Then, the Hurricanes started to come back. It started with Skjei, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with his 9th goal of the season, at the 15:24 mark of the 3rd. Nino Niederreiter scored his 24th goal of the season with 1:52 left in regulation to tie the game 2-2. That set up Jarvis, who scored 1:39 into overtime, capping the comeback win.
Jarvis said of the comeback that "We always think we have a chance to win it, Rod preaches that and our leadership group come behind us and really helps us out. Especially when you're down two with five minutes left, it's a little bit tough. But to be able to come back like that just says a lot about our team, about our group inside the locker."
Getting the start with Frederik Andersen injured was Pyotr Kochetkov, who made his NHL debut. Kochetkov stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced from the Devils, recording an .895 save percentage. That was good enough for the win, making Kochetkov the 4th goalie to win his NHL debut with the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers.
Making his first start since the end of March was Jon Gillies, who couldn't get the Devils a win. Gillies turned aside 26 out of the 29 shots he faced from the Hurricanes. That was good for a .896 save percentage, with Gillies's record dropping to 3-10-2 with the loss.
New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said of the loss that "I thought we had a couple of good opportunities, but we knew we were going to have to play a tight game. We couldn't trade chances with them. I thought we had them where we could beat them."
Up next, both teams get back in action Sunday afternoon. Antti Raanta gets the start for the Hurricanes as they face the New York Islanders, while Andrew Hammond starts for the Devils against the Detroit Red Wings.
Comments
Post a Comment