Aho propels Hurricanes to OT victory against Canucks

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Sebastian Aho scored with 31 seconds left in overtime, giving the Carolina Hurricanes a 4-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Lenovo Center on Friday.

Aho scored on a snap shot to the far side from the right face-off circle, where he started the play seven seconds earlier by winning a face-off back to Shayne Gostisbehere, who quickly gave the puck back to him on the right side.

“That’s definitely not a set play, but it’s kind of how it worked,” Aho said. “But that’s 3-on-3. In overtime, you’ve got more time and space, and I was able to use it.”

Andrei Svechnikov had two goals and an assist, Gostisbehere had three assists, and Aho added an assist for the Hurricanes (12-5-0), who have won five of their past six. Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves.

“We were playing a really good game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We gave up a couple chances; it’s not like they had to do much to get them. That’s the tough part. The rest of the game, it felt like we were in their end. You don’t always get what you deserve in this game, but we got what we deserved with the two points.”

Carolina forward Seth Jarvis left at 5:09 of the first period after being hit in the face by Svechnikov’s stick behind the Vancouver net, and Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi left with a twisted ankle after the second period. Brind’Amour said he does not expect Jarvis to be out long but was unsure about Kotkaniemi’s availability.

Center Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist for the Canucks (8-9-2), who are 0-1-2 in their past three. Kevin Lankinen made 34 saves.

“We played against a really good hockey team,” Vancouver coach Adam Foote said. “They’re fast, they forecheck really hard. We’re going to learn a lot from a game like that. It’s the closest you’ll see to a playoff game that we’ve had so far.”

Max Sasson gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 2:45 of the first. After Gostisbehere collided with Canucks forward Mackenzie MacEachern, the puck came loose to Sasson near the blue line, and he moved into the zone before scoring through the five-hole from the top of the slot.

“That’s a shot I work on a lot. I like to go five-hole,” Sasson said. “I thought when we advanced pucks, we got a lot of odd-man rushes. They’re super aggressive.”

Carolina tied it 1-1 at 4:20. Jarvis knocked down Tyler Myers’ clearing attempt and passed to Aho, who set up Svechnikov for a one-timer in the right circle.

Svechnikov made it a 2-1 lead on the power play at 5:14. Nikolaj Ehlers won a face-off in the left circle back to Gostisbehere, who passed to Svechnikov for a one-timer from the right circle to the short side.

“I always try to work on my slap shot,” Svechnikov said. “I changed my stick a couple weeks ago, so that’s why [a few goals] are going in.”

Pettersson tied the game 2-2 with a short-handed goal at 9:14. Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker lost the puck attempting a backhand pass in his own zone, and Pettersson shot from the top of the slot past Kochetkov’s blocker.

“I don’t know if their player missed the pass a little bit, but I got a good chance to score on a shot,” Pettersson said. “I like our fight, I like our compete. I think overall our game is good, but maybe there are some small details we can work on."

Vancouver then scored on the power play to go ahead 3-2 at 3:13 of the second period when Conor Garland one-timed a cross-ice pass from Brock Boeser.

Taylor Hall, playing on his 34th birthday, tied it 3-3 at 6:26 of the third period when he took a pass across the slot from Gostisbehere and finished into an open net from below the right circle.

Gostisbehere has four assists in two games after missing six with a lower-body injury.

“I’ve got my feet under me a little bit. I’m feeling good,” Gostisbehere said. “Getting touches on the puck helps offensively to get confidence going and your legs going too.”

NOTES: Aho scored his 17th career overtime goal to tie Ilya Kovalchuk and Mark Scheifele for seventh in NHL history. … Ehlers extended his point streak to six games (seven points; three goals, four assists). … Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes, who missed practice on Thursday with an illness, did not play. “It looked like he was going to be OK,” Foote said. “He went out and tried it this morning, and when he had his nap and woke up, he didn’t feel like it was right where he needed it to be." … Pettersson has 472 points (189 goals, 283 points) and passed Tony Tanti (470) for sole possession of eighth place in Canucks history.