RALEIGH — If the Hurricanes are going to win a game in overtime, chances are it will be Sebastian Aho scoring the goal.
Aho’s one-timer at 3:16 of 3-on-3 play gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 win Sunday over the visiting Calgary Flames. It was Carolina’s fifth OT win of the season — all on Aho goals.
“There’s a lot of room out there,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, “and then he can be creative, and he’s competitive as heck. So I think those combinations help suit him in that type of environment.”
The Hurricanes maintained possession in the Calgary zone for more than two minutes, wearing out the Flames’ skaters. Jaccob Slavin and Aho exchanged the puck as they switched sides of the ice, with Slavin then sliding the puck back to Aho at the top of the right circle.
Aho’s one-timer beat Calgary rookie goalie Dustin Wolf (31 saves) over his blocker for the winner.
“That was a good play by (Slavin),” Aho said. “I got a step on my guy, and he realizes it and put it in a good spot to shoot.”
Wolf had stymied the Hurricanes much of the night, so Carolina needed good goaltending of its own — and they got it from Pyotr Kochetkov.
Kochetkov (15 saves) faced just one shot in the first period but was needed the rest of the way.
“I just tried to play (the) puck more for a little bit, move, you know?” Kochetkov said of his idle opening period. “In the second period, I had (a bigger) job, and it’s just my job. I try to (make a save every time when I can.”
That included making a redirection save on Matthew Coronato and stopping some Calgary breakaways — including one on Morgan Frost with a poke check.
“I can say, ‘Yes, this is a good moment for a poke check,’” Kocketkov said. “This is not true if I say (it) because I just play. I don’t think (in the) moment, I just go.”
The Hurricanes finally opened the scoring late in the second period when Slavin and Jackson Blake connected for a goal.
The play started when Carolina winger Taylor Hall checked Calgary center Nazem Kadri into the boards in front of the Flames bench, creating a turnover that sent the Hurricanes the other way.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin picked up the puck, carried it to the Calgary blue line and passed across the ice to Blake. Blake returned the puck to Slavin at the far post for a sliding tap-in to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with 35 seconds left in the second period.
“I figured I get it in the skill guy’s hands, and he obviously made a great play back to me,” Slavin said. “I just tried to go to the net — that’s what we tell our forwards to do, and so I tried to try to do that. He found me great.”
Kadri — who received an unsportsmanlike penalty after Slavin’s goal for arguing with the officials — got his revenge in the third period when he scored just after the first penalty expired during a 5-on-3 to even the game 1-1 at 7:06.
The Hurricanes had a chance to win it with a four-minute power play at the end of regulation, but Carolina was unable to score and also didn’t get a second call to create a 5-on-3 like Calgary had despite at least one clear penalty — a slash by Kevin Bahl that broke Seth Jarvis’ stick in front of the Flames net.
“If that’s the standard then call it,” said Brind’Amour, who called the second penalty on Carolina’s Aho earlier in the period that created Calgray’s 5-on-3 a “one-handed little tap.”
“But if not, I’m good with not. I don’t think you should go on a 5-on-3 unless it’s absolutely egregious.”
The Hurricanes’ power play went 0 for 7 on the night, generating eight shots on goal but continuing to struggle.
Notes: Andrei Svechnikov fought Joel Hanley in the third period, his third career NHL fight. … Blake finished with two assists. … Aho won 13 of 19 faceoffs and had a team-high six shots. The Hurricanes improved to 35-22-4 with 74 points and are 23-7-1 at home.
