RALEIGH — The Hurricanes needed to make a statement Sunday after a lackluster effort the night before against the Wild.
It took a while, but Carolina found the right answer.
Sebastian Aho scored in overtime and set up two more goals as the Hurricanes rallied from an early two-goal deficit and defeated the visiting Penguins 4-3 at Lenovo Center.
“It always kind of felt like we were going to get back in the game and have a chance, and (we) just kind of waited for opportunities and made the most of it,” said Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis, who had two goals.
The Hurricanes possessed the puck for all of overtime, and Aho sent a cross-ice pass to Dmitry Orlov, who shot from the left circle. Alex Nedeljkovic (27 saves) made the save with his blocker, but the puck rebounded to the slot, where Aho met it just as it hit the ice, firing it into the net for the winner 90 seconds into overtime.
Aho said he was hopeful the win could be a jumping-off point for the team.
“We have some good games, and then the next game might be totally different,” he said. “There’s going to be wins and losses in this league, but it has to look the right way. Hopefully we can build off of this.”
It looked like Carolina was on its way to another disheartening loss when it gave up two goals in the first 5:08 of the game. Instead, Jarvis and the Hurricanes took over in the second period.
Aho knocked down a clearing attempt in the neutral zone, leading to a rush chance where he set up Jarvis for a quick shot in the slot to halve the Penguins’ lead at 4:15 of the middle frame.
“Last night, I should have probably had two or three, and so I didn’t even really sleep last night; I was just so upset with myself,” Jarvis said. “And then just to get one felt really nice.”
Then, just past the midway point of regulation, defenseman Jalen Chatfield broke up an odd-man rush in the defensive zone and then jumped into the rush the other way. Aho again found the open man, and Chatfield buried his shot to tie the game at 12:45.
“That was play of the game for us,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It could have went the other way, and then we come down and (Aho) made a high-end play. And I’m happy that Chatty shot it.”
Chatfield called Aho’s pass “an unbelievable play.”
“Many guys can’t really make that — right on the money too, right on my tape, and all I had to do is just get it on net,” he said.
Just over 3½ minutes later, Carolina got its first lead.
Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov kept the puck in the Pittsburgh end, and then Brent Burns held the puck in at the point against two Pittsburgh players.
Staal won another put battle to Svechnikov, who backhanded a pass to Jarvis — who had just come off the bench — and he beat Nedeljkovic with a quick move and shot to make it 3-2 Carolina at 16:18.
“(Svechnikov) got the turnover and made a heck of a pass,” Brind’Amour said.
The Penguins tied the game on an Erik Karlsson one-timer 1:51 into the third period, but Carolina got to overtime thanks to its penalty kill, which killed off a Chatfield delay of game penalty with 3:01 left in regulation and went 3 for 3 on the night.
The Hurricanes looked like they were headed for a second straight loss after Pittsburgh scored twice in the first 5:08 of the game.
Carolina’s first allowed goal was self-inflicted, with Orlov’s ill-advised pinch in the offensive zone not only taking him out of the play but also teammate Jesperi Kotkaniemi. That led to a 3-on-1 rush for the Penguins, and Kevin Hayes called his own number and snapped a shot past Dustin Tokarski (16 saves) for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead at 3:47 of the first.
The Penguins doubled their lead just 81 seconds later when Karlsson set up former Hurricanes forward Michael Bunting in the high slot for a 2-0 lead.
Carolina, however, responded with three second period goals, and Aho capped off his night with his 13th goal of the year.
“We got what we deserved tonight,” Brind’Amour said.
Notes: William Carrier did not play, and Juha Jaaska played his second career NHL game in his place. … Jarvis, who now has 11 goals on the season, had his first two-goal game of the season and also had an assist. … Aho has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the last five games, and the overtime goal was the 600th point of his career. He also won 13 of 16 faceoffs.
