11.29.22 Recap3

PITTSBURGH, PA. -Defenseman Brett Pesce scored the game-winning goal for a second straight contest Tuesday, pushing the Carolina Hurricanes past the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in overtime.

The Story

The hosting Penguins came out of the gate with the stronger start, utilizing puck pressure and a goal in the opening minutes from Sidney Crosby to take control of the affair early. Crosby's 30th point of the year leaked through Pyotr Kochetkov, who was making his fifth start in six games after having the day off on Saturday.
From there Carolina built their game though, creating a handful of chances to generate some momentum in the back half of the frame.
Although they entered the middle 40 still trailing 1-0, they'd have the game flipped by the end of the middle period.
As Kochetkov strung together a few saves to keep the deficit at just one, a quality shift from Sebastian Aho's line led to the game's equalizer early in the second. A Brett Pesce shot from the point left a rebound to the blocker-side of Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry, one that was put home by Martin Necas for his 11th of the year.

CAR@PIT: Necas puts home a loose puck in tight

Then, later in the period and less than a minute following a successful penalty kill, Andrei Svechnikov put his team ahead.
Entering the zone two-on-two, an initial shot from Aho jumped out of Jarry's glove. Svechnikov jumped the inside track on his defender, corralling the puck on his backhand and stretching to the far side of the net to make it 2-1, Carolina.
For over 19 minutes of the third period it looked as if the visitors would be able to close out the contest with that same score. Earning critical blocks and stops respectively from Seth Jarvis and Brady Skjei in front of Kochetkov, Pittsburgh kept their foot on the gas though and found the equalizer with the extra attacker on.
With exactly 57.4 seconds to go in the third, Jake Guentzel scored to send Carolina to their fifth overtime in their last seven games.
But unlike the affairs against Colorado, Minnesota, Winnipeg and Boston, tonight had a happy ending for the club.
After some confusion in front of the Penguins bench during the three-on-three, Pesce and Svechnikov walked in all alone on a two-on-none against Jarry. A last second pass from #37 across the crease to Pesce closed the book on the Canes 12th win of the year.

CAR@PIT: Pesce nets goal in tight in overtime

They Said It

Brett Pescein the moments following his game-deciding goal...
"That's a huge win. It's a division rival and when you look at the standings, it's early in the year, but they're right next to us. We faced a little adversity when they scored with a minute left. That kind of hurt, but we had the resiliency to get the extra point."
Pesceon the goal itself...
"I don't know what happened. I saw everyone trying to fight Jarvy, then the puck squirted out and I didn't hear a whistle, so I figured I might as well go for a breakaway. Then I saw Svech behind me and we just kind of made it happen. It was definitely a little weird."
Rod Brind'Amouroffering his assessment, post-game...
"I thought we played well the whole game. Yeah they put a little push on in the third and we had a little mess up on the six-on-five - we should've kept the pressure on - and they kind of just floated one in. I like the game overall and the two points is what we needed."

Bonus Notes

  • Brett Pesce extended his point streak to three games tonight, totaling four points now during the run.
  • Pesce is one of five NHL defensemen with overtime goals in each of the last two seasons (also 2/21/22 at PHI), joining Erik Karlsson (SJS), Shea Theodore (VGK), Noah Dobson (NYI) and Justin Faulk (STL).
  • Pesce joined Brent Burns as the second Hurricanes player to score an overtime winner in 2022-23, and Carolina is one of just two NHL teams with multiple overtime goals from the blue line this season (Winnipeg: Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk).
  • Pesce is the fourth defenseman in franchise history to score back-to-back game-winning goals, joining Ron Hainsey (10/27/15-10/29/15), Jay Harrison (1/12/12-1/14/12) and Joe Corvo (twice: 3/7/09-3/9/09, 12/16/08-12/18/08).
  • Kochetkov finished with 30 stops on 32 shots, earning his third win of the season.
  • Sebastian Aho earned his sixth multi-point game of the season with two assists.
  • Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury) took part in morning skate for Carolina, but did not play in tonight's contest.
  • Carolina now moves to 12-6-5 on the season.

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