Lenovo Center Arena | Carolina Hurricanes
Lenovo Center Arena | Carolina Hurricanes
Sebastian Aho scored the decisive goal in overtime, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. This win marks the Hurricanes' fourth consecutive victory as they prepare to return home for a game against Boston on Thursday.
Aho's goal came just 46 seconds into overtime, with assists from Martin Necas and Shayne Gostisbehere. This goal tied Aho with Ron Francis for the most game-winning goals in franchise history, each having 57.
The game's scoring began with William Carrier's first goal as a Hurricane, assisted by Jack Drury and Jackson Blake. Vancouver quickly responded through Brock Boeser but fell behind again after Necas scored before intermission. In the second period, Jack Roslovic extended Carolina's lead to 3-1 with help from Andrei Svechnikov and Brent Burns.
Vancouver forced overtime with third-period goals from Quinn Hughes and Pius Suter. However, Pyotr Kochetkov's performance in goal, stopping 25 of 28 shots, helped secure Carolina's win.
Coach Rod Brind'Amour commented on the team's performance: "I thought we came out really well... We hung in there and obviously got the big play in overtime." Martin Necas added his thoughts on their overtime strategy: "It's always nice when Jordo wins the faceoff... you can kind of just wait for the right moment."
Reflecting on tying Ron Francis' record, Aho said: "When you hear your own name with Ron Francis, it means you've done something right." Brind'Amour praised his team’s overall road trip performance: "(We played) good teams... I give the guys a lot of credit."
The Hurricanes will return to Raleigh for practice before facing Boston on Thursday.