Kaydee Gawlik
Sebastian Aho, left wing for Carolina Hurricanes, reaches for the puck during the game against Minnesota Wild in PNC Arena, Saturday, Oct. 7. Aho had 5 shots on goal and 2 assists. After overtime, the Carolina Hurricanes won in a shootout against the Minnesota Wild, 5-4.
So far, so good for the Carolina Hurricanes this season. Following a crazy, come-from-behind 5-4 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild at PNC Arena Saturday, the team started its regular season with a victory for the first time since the 2010-11 season (that win also came against Minnesota).
Forward Sebastian Aho had two assists for the Hurricanes (1-0-0), and goalie Scott Darling stopped 23 of 27 Wild (0-1-1) shots in a game the Canes trailed 3-1 in the second period, and 3-2 entering the third.
“I thought we had four lines going for sure,” head coach Bill Peters said. “… I thought everyone got better as the game went along. You could tell early we didn’t have a lot of timing and it didn’t look like we were quite in sync, but it got better as we went.”
Darling stopped all three Minnesota shooters, including a tricky backhand move from Wild forward Mikko Koivu, allowing defenseman Jaccob Slavin to win the game with his patented forehand-backhand move.
“It’s huge to get those first two points,” Slavin said. “[Darling] obviously played a heck of a game for us, and we just found a way to get the two points at the end there.”
With 1:34 to play in regulation, Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho spun around in the offensive zone and zipped a crisp pass to forward Victor Rask at the right circle, who buried a shot to make it 4-3 Hurricanes, securing what seemed to be a come-from-behind win over the Minnesota Wild… or so it seemed.
The Wild tied the game with a goal from forward Mikko Koivu off a net mouth scramble tie it at four with 0.3 seconds remaining. The tally survived a review for goalie interference, sending the game to overtime, and eventually, the shootout.
“We’ve just got to focus on what’s next,” Slavin said. “Obviously, there’s nothing we can do about it after it goes in. So we’ve just got to focus on overtime. I think we had a few chances there, and they had a few chances. But like I said, in end [Darling] played a huge game for us.”
The Canes found themselves behind the eight-ball early in this one, as Wild forward Jason Zucker tapped in a feed from defenseman Matt Dumba on the doorstep to make it 1-0 Minnesota 6:30 into the first.
The Canes tied it at one about five minutes later, as several players jammed at the puck along the goal line, and Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu inadvertently knocked it in, with credit going to Canes forward Joakim Nordstrom.
The Wild nearly took a 2-1 lead late in the opening frame, but Darling slid across to make a strong pad stop on Minnesota forward Joel Eriksson-Ek off the rush to keep it tied.
“I thought he was real good,” Peters said of Darling. “I thought on the power play goal to start the game, he didn’t have a chance. … The last one, he didn’t have an opportunity to play his position. That’s obvious. Real big save on all three [shootout shots], but obviously the Koivu backhand. I think we’ve seen Koivu score on that many times over the years. That was a big-time save, and it gave us the opportunity to win in the shootout.”
Minnesota would strike with just over a minute left in the period; forward Chris Stewart got behind the defense and beat Darling on the backhand to make it 2-1.
Carolina got a lengthy two-man advantage midway through the period, but could not convert, or get much in the way of a quality chance. The Wild took a two-goal lead shortly after, as former Hurricanes captain Eric Staal snapped home a quick wrister on a breakaway.
The Canes game inches from getting within one on another power play with 4:11 left in the middle period, but Stalock reached out and robbed forward Justin Williams with his glove along the goal line. Williams got his revenge less than a minute later, however, ripping a shot from the slot that forward Derek Ryan tipped in to make it 3-2.
Carolina tied it up a little less than five minutes into the third, as defenseman Noah Hanifin slammed home a gorgeous drop pass from Aho, who had two third-period assists, after the finish rookie weaved his way across the goal mouth, making it 3-3.
“I think we just kept playing there,” Aho said. “We played with good pace and we were fast”
Following the intense finish to the third period, neither team could find the back of the net in overtime, sending the game to a shootout.
The Canes will wrap up an early-season, two-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday at PNC before heading out for the annual State Fair road trip.