Ducks drop Canes in overtime

Dec 7, 2022 - 5:44 AM

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For the mind-boggling 10th time in just 26 games this season, the Carolina Hurricanes went to overtime again Tuesday night in Anaheim.

The result was a somewhat familiar one for the Canes this year, as Ryan Strome netted the winner for the home team after a dominant overtime period to send the Ducks home with a 4-3 lead. In those 10 overtime games, the Canes are now 4-6 and have lost 5 of their last 6 games that went to the extra period.

In regulation, it was a truly back-and-forth affair. The Ducks opened up a one-goal lead three different times, and the Hurricanes answered three different times. Brady Skjei, Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal did the scoring for the visitors, while Adam Henrique, Max Comtois and Brett Leason put the regulation goals in for the Ducks.

In net, Pyotr Kochetkov was very good despite the goals allowed, stopping 26 of 30 shots faced while making some huge stops in the third period to help earn the point for the Hurricanes. John Gibson made 34 saves on 37 shots faced.

The Ducks opened up the scoring early on, as an unfortunate bounce for the Canes led to a clean look at goal for Henrique. A puck fired into the offensive zone got up on Brett Pesce and came awkwardly off his neck, dropping the Canes’ defenseman while the puck fell to Henrique, who buried it past Kochetkov.

Pesce left the ice momentarily, but returned a few minutes later. During his absence his defensive partner stepped up though, as Skjei skated into a shot and sniped one glove-side high against Gibson to tie the game back up just 1:39 after Henrique’s opener.

The Canes’ lead didn’t last for too long, though, as Comtois scored to make it 2-1 later in the first period. Jaccob Slavin couldn’t control a puck behind Carolina’s net, and Jakob Silfverberg collected it and teed up Comtois in the slot for the goal.

The 2-1 lead carried into the first intermission, thanks to a pretty spectacular save from Kochetkov at the buzzer.

After a back-and-forth start to the second period, Aho tallied to even things back up. Seth Jarvis got himself into a Slavin shooting lane, and the rebound fell right to Aho, who blasted it home to make it 2-2.

But that lead lasted for all of 43 seconds, as Anaheim got out on an odd-man rush and Leason placed in a great cross-crease pass from Mason McTavish to make it 3-2.

The Canes answered back before the end of the frame though, and it was a strong net-front presence that got the job done for Carolina once again. Brent Burns fired in a shot from the point and Staal got his stick perfectly to it, lifting it past Gibson to tie things up once again.

After a very fun — albeit sloppy — first two periods, the third frame was kind of a drag. It took the Hurricanes exactly 15 minutes to register a single shot on goal in the period, while the Ducks got a few looks but nothing that really threatened to break the tie.

Things got a bit crazy in the final minute of regulation, as the Ducks put a flurry of shots on Carolina’s net. Kochetkov made a couple of fantastic saves to preserve the point for the Canes and get the game to overtime.

Anaheim dominated the 3-on-3 period, as the Hurricanes never saw the puck before Strome put home the winner 1:56 in.

Carolina’s road trip will head back to the east coast Saturday for a meeting with the Islanders in New York.