Martin Necas scored with 41 seconds remaining in overtime, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brady Skjei each added a goal and an assist, as the Carolina Hurricanes won 3-2 over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Stefan Noesen recorded two assists and Antti Raanta made 26 saves to improve to 10-0-1 at home for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes (50-18-9, 109 points), who have won three in a row following an 0-2-1 rut.
Down 2-1 entering the third, Ottawa made the most of its fourth power play of the night to level the contest at 2:52 into the final frame. Brady Tkachuk tapped in Alex DeBrincat’s pass for the Senators (37-34-7, 81 points).
However, with less than a minute to play in the extra session, Necas — who’s the team leader with 69 points but was blanked in his last four games — rang a drop pass from Seth Jarvis off the post and in for a thrilling Carolina triumph.
Six points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, Ottawa also got a goal from Claude Giroux. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Finnish netminder Leevi Merilainen was stellar while making 34 saves in his NHL debut for the Senators, who are mired in an 0-1-2 rut with time running out on their playoff hopes.
The Hurricanes wasted no time in opening the scoring. Just 1:50 into the contest, Kotkaniemi deflected in Skjei’s shot from the point past Merilainen, who was screened by the Hurricanes’ Jesse Puljujarvi. Skjei made it 2-0 when he drove the puck home, through traffic and past an again-screened Merilainen, during the second half of a four-minute power play with 4:02 remaining in the first period.
Meanwhile, Raanta was solid in stopping all 10 shots Ottawa threw at him over the first 20 minutes. He made an impressive toe save on Ridly Greig with roughly 11 1/2 minutes left in the second period but the Senators finally broke through shortly after.
On the push, DeBrincat sent a perfect cross-slot pass for Giroux to bury in the net with 9:21 remaining in the middle frame to make it a 2-1 game.
–Field Level Media
