From the Associated Press

Written by The Associated Press

TORONTO

The Carolina Hurricanes overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Saturday night, with Jake Guentzel scoring the winning goal in a shootout.

Carolina’s Sebastian Aho recorded two goals and one assist, with additional goals from Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis. Guentzel and Brent Burns each had two assists for the team. Pyotr Kochetkov made an impressive 36 saves.

Burns accomplished his 1,400th appearance in a regular season hockey game, making him the 42nd individual in NHL history to achieve this feat.

Carolina was faced with a penalty in overtime when Guentzel was penalized for slashing.

Guentzel expressed regret for not feeling well and not wanting to put the team at a disadvantage, but praised the penalty kill for their exceptional performance, which brought a sense of relief.

Both teams had opportunities during the 3-on-3 overtime, including the Maple Leafs’ power play. Ultimately, Guentzel’s shot through Samsonov’s pads in the third round of the shootout was the deciding factor, resulting in the only goal of the tiebreaker.

Guentzel stated that being able to score in the shootout was the perfect ending to the game.

John Tavares recorded one goal and one assist, while William Nylander, Nick Robertson, and David Kampf also tallied goals for the Toronto team. Morgan Rielly contributed two assists and Ilya Samsonov saved 36 shots.

“We made a good effort,” stated Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “The outcome may not have been ideal, but I thought we held our own.”

Mitch Marner and Calle Jarnkrok were unable to play for Toronto due to an ankle sprain and hand injury respectively. The Hurricanes were also missing their forward Teuvo Teravainen due to an injury to his upper body.

During the final minutes of the third period, with the Hurricanes down 4-2 and their goalie Kochetkov off the ice for an additional player, Aho scored a goal on a power play with just 1:32 remaining. Aho later tied the game with his 27th goal of the season and only 5.8 seconds left on the clock, while the team was playing with 6 players against 5 to force overtime.

During the additional time, both teams had opportunities to score, including a power play for Toronto, but neither were able to find the back of the net.

In the third round of the shootout, Guentzel secured the win by scoring between Samsonov’s legs.

Carolina, who was defeated in the Eastern Conference final by Florida last year, made significant changes prior to the recent trade deadline by acquiring Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Meanwhile, Toronto opted for some supplementary acquisitions.

At 4:47 into the second period, the Maple Leafs scored their first goal when Tavares skillfully shot the puck under the crossbar on a breakaway, marking his 21st goal of the season.

At 6:27, Nylander scored his 36th goal of the season with another breakaway and gave his team a 2-0 lead. Following that, in his first game since Feb. 29, Robertson received a pass from Tavares in a close range and scored his ninth goal with a shot to the top corner, extending the lead to three goals.

Martinook put the Hurricanes on the scoreboard with 6:33 left in the period by scoring his 12th goal off a rebound.

With only 2.7 seconds remaining in the first period, Jarvis scored his 22nd goal, narrowing the Hurricanes’ deficit to 3-2.

In the second period, there were no points scored and the Hurricanes took 16 shots compared to the Maple Leafs’ 14. Kampf added to Toronto’s lead with his sixth goal scored through Kochetkov’s five-hole on a breakaway at 2:55.

“We gave them four goals,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Giving up breakaways like that … that was not typical of the way we (do) it, but I give the guys a lot of credit. Dug in and had a good finish.”

Later in the period, fans were chanting Samsonov’s name after he made a glove save on Jesper Fast during a penalty kill, but Aho was able to respond.

Marner sat out his third consecutive game, but has since returned to skating. Jarnkrok sustained an injury during Thursday’s 6-2 win against Philadelphia and is expected to be out for at least a week.

UP NEXT

On Sunday night, the Hurricanes will play in Ottawa as part of their three-game trip.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will face off against Philadelphia on Tuesday evening as they begin their two-game journey.

___

AP NHL: Visit the AP NHL hub at https://apnews.com/hub/nhl.

Source: wralsportsfan.com