For the first time all season, it was the Hurricanes who were on the losing side of an overtime game. Islanders center Mathew Barzal snapped a shot past Canes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov in extra time to seal the game resulting in a 5-4 loss for the Canes after outshooting the Islanders 43-16.

“That was one of the better games we played all year,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “It’s a tough night for the result, …but it’s the NHL, and we were able to hold the team on the other end to [16] shots.”

Despite the loss, Carolina (13-8-1) left the game with a much-deserved point and kept their place at second in the Metropolitan Division while the Islanders (9-7-6) took the two points to the bank, moving up to fourth in the Metro. The season series is tied at one apiece with each team earning their win in overtime this month.

The Canes were on fire to start the first period, and by dominating puck possession they kept the Islanders land-locked in their zone. It didn’t take long for Carolina to get on the scoresheet courtesy of defenseman Jalen Chatfield. His first career game-opening goal couldn’t have come at a better time.

Left wing Michael Bunting flipped the puck into the Islanders’ zone where it took a weird bounce and Chatfield came streaking in and got enough on the puck for it to float in over the head of New York goaltender Semyon Varlamov. Chatfield’s two goals on the season have both come against the Islanders.

The Hurricanes had numerous chances to extend their lead in the first period including a shot from defenseman Dmitry Orlov that rang the post and a deflection from center Sebastian Aho that just missed the net. Orlov had his best performance of the season; his increasing confidence as he learns the system was on full display when he took on defenders with his puck-handling skills. 

As the period was coming to a close, the Hurricanes let their guard down defensively, and it cost them. Islanders center Bo Horvat split four Canes players and was left unmarked in front of the net where he tipped in a pass from Barzal that gave Kochetkov no chance at making the save.

Giving up five goals on 16 shots isn’t going to win games in the NHL, and recently the Canes have been letting teams capitalize on the few chances they give them. Too many grade-A opportunities are costing Carolina games due to a combination of sloppy defense and bad goaltending.

“The chances we gave up were bigger chances than normal,” said center Jordan Staal. “When [Kochektov] is sitting there that long, make sure they’re not grade-A’s coming at him.”

On the other end of the ice, Varlamov stood on his head throughout the game keeping his team in it despite giving up 43 shots on goal. The netminder kept coming up with big save after big save whenever his team needed him most. 

One of his biggest saves came in the final minutes of the third when he shut the door on an Aho wraparound shot. Varlomov came up big once again in overtime when he sprawled out with his pad to deny defenseman Brady Skjei to prevent the Canes from stealing the win.

After a sour end to the first period, the Hurricanes leaned on their veteran leaders to get them back on track. Two minutes into the start of the second period, Staal snapped one home to give the Canes back their lead. 

It was another period of dominance for the Canes allowing just three shots on goal throughout the duration of the second. Although they only gave up three shots, the Islanders put two of them away late in the frame to take their first lead of the night.

After getting to the man-advantage with a power play opportunity, things quickly went south for Carolina. Center Seth Jarvis turned the puck over and the Islanders quickly went the other way scoring a shorthanded goal on their first shot of the period with just over four minutes left. 

“The power play one [goal] is on me,” Jarvis said. “I know he’s reading it, and I just didn’t think and made it too easy for him.”

Just two minutes later the Islanders jumped on another opportunity as left wing Pierre Engvall slotted the puck through Kochetkov’s five-hole, and just like that the Canes were entering the third period down a goal.

Coming into the game, the Canes were 3-7-0 when trailing after the second period this season, so they were going to have to score early to give themselves a fighting chance. Just 40 seconds in, center Jack Drury snapped one past the outstretched blocker of Varlamov to tie it up at three. 

Right wing Andrei Svechnikov was back in the lineup after missing the previous game which forced Brind’Amour to shuffle the lines from Tuesday’s 4-1 win against the Flyers. With Bunting staying on the first line, Necas was moved down to the fourth. The fourth line looked to be one of the best forward lines the Canes had out there tonight creating numerous scoring chances.

“I thought we had contributions from everyone,” Brind’Amour said. “If we want to be the team we want to be, we can’t rely on one or two guys.”

Just under seven minutes into the third, the Islanders responded with a goal of their own due to a hardworking play from center Kyle Palmieri. After deflecting a shot from the point, Palmieri collected his own rebound putting New York up one with 13 minutes left in the third. Palmieri’s goal marks his fifth goal off a rebound this season, the most in the NHL.

With time winding down, the Canes kept throwing everything at the net but no shot was getting through Varlomov at even strength. With just under two minutes left to go in the game, Brind’Amour pulled Kochetkov to get an extra attacker on the ice that paid off in the leftover seconds of the third period.

As fans headed towards the exit, Aho poked in a loose puck past Varlamov to tie the game with under three seconds left sending the Caniacs into a frenzy.

“It’s usually just chaotic with all those ones and kind of hope to outnumber them around the net,” Staal said. “I muffed it, and I think [Aho] got a good jam on it.”

With all the momentum on their side, the Hurricanes went into the overtime frame looking to leave with two points that looked impossible to reach just minutes beforehand. 

After denying a 2-on-1 chance at their end of the ice, the Islanders quickly got on the attack and generated an odd-man rush of their own. A tic-tac-toe play between Barzal and defenseman Noah Dobson put the game on Barzal’s tee where he one-timed it past Kochetkov. Dobson and Barzal were involved in four of their team’s five goals combining for seven points between the pair.

Canes fans will be frustrated looking at the scoresheet and seeing the Canes losing games while giving up so few shots, but the play outside of that is nothing but encouraging. The Hurricanes have a solid foundation to improve upon with plenty of time left in the regular season.

“I’ve got to give the guys a lot of credit,” Brind’Amour said. “Those are the tough games when you’re doing everything right and getting zero reward out of it and to stick with it. … Nothing went our way tonight, absolutely nothing.”

The Canes will get one day off before they take on the Buffalo Sabres at PNC Arena on Saturday, Dec. 2. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.