Second time’s the charm for the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime. Playing their second game that went to extra time in as many games, the Canes stormed back with three unanswered goals against former goalie Cam Ward for a 3-2 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks at PNC Arena Monday night.
Forward Sebastian Aho scored the overtime winner for the Hurricanes (8-7-3). Forwards Micheal Ferland and Teuvo Teravainen also scored against the Blackhawks (6-8-4), both on the power play as the Canes went 2 for 2 in that regard.
“[Overtime] looked way different [than the last game],” Brind’Amour said. “It looked like we were going to score right from the get-go. That was good. Obviously, it was nice to see one go in for us. It was one of those games you just didn’t know which way it was going to go. It really felt like they had some good chances and then we had some. Obviously, I’m happy it went the way it did.”
Goalie Scott Darling played a strong game against his former team, stopping 33 of 35 shots and making some excellent saves to keep his team in the game early. It was a good bounce-back effort from Darling after a shaky performance against Detroit Saturday.
“Every win’s huge and every win feels good,” Darling said. “It’s always fun to play against the Blackhawks. I’m happy Cam had a good game, but I’m happy we won.”
In overtime, Aho took a pass from defenseman Justin Faulk at the blueline, deked his way around Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook, who dove to the ice to stop him and out-waited Ward to bury the winner five-hole.
“I had a breakaway or two-on-one earlier and it was a good save by him,” Aho said. “I got a second chance and I saw [Ward] going down and tried to wait. It was east-west; I knew he had to move and looked at the five-hole.”
After the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead, Carolina tied the game with power-play goals 1:06 apart late in the second period. Teravainen blasted a shot past Ward right off a faceoff, and Ferland cashed in a slick backhand feed from forward Andrei Svechnikov after the latter powered his way to the net.
“It was huge,” Aho said. “It was kind of a slow start from us and the first period wasn’t good. But I feel like after that [first] goal we started playing [better]. It was huge.”
Before the Blackhawks’ second goal, Darling came up big twice to keep the game from getting out of hand. He flashed the leather to deny Chicago forward Patrick Kane off a two-on-one rush, and came up big again a few minutes later, denying forward Nick Schmaltz on a clear-cut breakaway.
“That’s what we need,” Brind’Amour said. “We need saves at times when we break down. That’s no different than Cam making the big save on [Brock McGinn] in the third. Keep your team in the game when you need it. [Darling] was huge on that. We had some mental lapses there to give up those breakaways. That’s all that was. We need a goalie to help us out and he did.”
Chicago did make it 2-0 with 9:11 to play in the middle frame, as a defensive-zone turnover from Canes defenseman Faulk allowed the Hawks to set up forward Alex DeBrincat in the dead slot, and he made no mistake.
The Hawks struck first just over nine minutes into the fourth; forward Jonathan Toews, who was left alone in front of Darling, tipped home a slap shot from just inside the blue line to make it 1-0.
“I didn’t like the start,” Brind’Amour said. “You knew they were going to come flying and they did. I give them a lot of credit; they looked like the Chicago Blackhawks of old there at the beginning. They were going up and down and we were a little bit in quicksand. As the game moved on we got better and better. Our compete’s always there, which I like, but the start was a little worrisome. The guys turned it on after.”
Svechnikov caught a cheap shot along the boards from Seabrook in the third period that caused forward Jordan Martinook to immediately go after Seabrook. Svechnikov stayed on the ice and tried to enter the resulting scrum. He went to the locker room as a precautionary measure but later returned to the bench.
Brind’Amour said he hadn’t heard anything on Svechnikov after the game but that he went through the concussion protocol and was cleared.
The Canes welcomed back Ward for his first game as a visitor after 13 seasons with the franchise with a video tribute and standing ovation from the fans at the first whistle stoppage.
“He’s a special person,” Brind’Amour said. “To me, he’ll always be special. He helped me realize one of the dreams I’ve had my whole life, to win a Stanley Cup. He was a huge part of that. I know what he put into this organization. To see him out there was nice and obviously the tribute was great. Some of his best saves that I remember very well. That was a pretty special moment.”
The Hurricanes will continue their six-game homestand Saturday with a visit from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
