Mathew Barzal scored 2:46 into overtime as the New York Islanders finally put away the host Carolina Hurricanes for a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Sebastian Aho of the Hurricanes sent the game to overtime by scoring with 2.5 seconds left after the Hurricanes pulled their goalie. It came on a sequence when it appeared that Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 39 saves in the contest, had made a game-saving stop, but Aho’s dogged pursuit resulted in the puck going between Varlamov’s pads and leaking across the line.
Barzal converted for the winner — his seventh goal of the season — after Carolina’s Seth Jarvis lost the puck.
Bo Horvat, Simon Holmstrom, Pierre Engvall and Kyle Palmieri scored earlier goals for the Islanders. Holmstrom’s goal was short-handed. Barzal and Noah Dobson each had three assists for the Islanders.
Jalen Chatfield, Jack Drury and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who never trailed until the third period. Pyotr Kochetkov made 11 saves.
Carolina had a two-game winning streak end and ran their record to 7-2-1 at home.
Palmieri scored on a power play to break a tie with 13:19 remaining in regulation and that goal nearly stood up.
Still, with Aho’s goal, it means the Islanders have been outscored 30-14 in the third periods this season.
Both teams failed to score on power plays late in the third period, but that led to some challenging moments for the goalies.
Chatfield opened the scoring with just his second goal of the season.
Horvat’s seventh goal ended the first-period scoring, 18 minutes into the game. Staal notched just his second of the season to begin the second-period scoring.
Then Holmstrom’s sixth of the season pulled the Islanders even. They went ahead with 1:57 to play in the second period on Engvall’s second goal.
But Drury’s second goal of the season came just 39 seconds into the third to knot the game at 3-3.
Carolina didn’t have a player with more than one point until Staal picked up an assist on Aho’s goal.
–Field Level Media
