Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook scored the tying and go-ahead goals nine seconds apart with a little more than two minutes left as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the New York Islanders 5-3 on Monday in Raleigh, N.C., in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference first-round series.
Carolina leads the series 2-0. Game 3 will be played Thursday in Elmont, N.Y.
With goalie Frederik Andersen pulled for the extra attacker, Aho tipped in Andrei Svechnikov’s shot to tie the game 3-3 with 2:15 to go.
Martinook got the winner with 2:06 left when he jammed in a loose puck from the side of the net.
Jake Guentzel added an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining.
“I still have to kind of come down from it,” Martinook said of the victory, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I think you have to go home and take a deep breath and then maybe watch the highlights because when you’re in it, you’re in it. Your sole focus is on the game. There’s some crazy things happening.”
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour added, “It was a special night for sure. It’s one of those games we’ll probably look back on for a long time.”
Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists, Aho contributed two points, Andrei Svechnikov contributed two assists and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina. Andersen made nine saves.
Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat scored for New York, which led 3-0 midway through the second period. Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 shots in the loss.
“That one (bleeping) hurts,” Lee said postgame, according to the New York Post. “Right now, we’re just dealing with the sting.”
Jarvis brought the Hurricanes within 3-2 with 9:17 left. He beat Varlamov from the left circle with a wrist shot.
An apparent goal by the Islanders less than a minute later was disallowed because of a high stick.
Despite being outplayed for most of the first period, New York led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
The Islanders did not manage a shot for the game’s first 12:32. Palmieri got the first shot and then got one past Andersen with 3:38 left in the opening period. Palmieri poked the puck in on his third try from just outside the crease.
Just after New York killed a tripping penalty on Adam Pelech, Horvat’s one-timer from the high slot beat Andersen to the blocker side with 14.8 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Lee’s power-play goal gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead 3:54 into the second period. All alone in front of the net, he slid a backhand shot past Andersen.
Teravainen put the Hurricanes on the board with a power-play goal at 13:01 of the middle period.
Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce sustained a lower-body injury during the second period and did not return for the third.
“It’s a tough loss, no doubt about it,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a chance to win that game, but at the same time, we have to regroup and be ready for the next game.”
–Field Level Media
