Sebastian Aho scored 3:40 into overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
Aho knocked a rebound of a Martin Necas shot out of midair past New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek, marking the game’s only goal.
“It was a good play by (Necas) to cut through the middle and get a shot off,” Aho said. “The rebound came right to me. Even though it was midair, it was in the wheelhouse, so I tapped it in.”
Both goalies were stellar, with Vanecek making 31 saves and Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov stopping 34 shots.
The Hurricanes have won five of their last six games, while the Devils have lost seven of their last ten.
Kochetkov made two crucial saves in overtime to give Aho a chance to score the winner.
“He was sharp,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “He was the difference, for sure.”
Vanecek made a key third-period save on Jordan Martinook’s breakaway attempt at 11:20 and helped kill off an Ondrej Palat penalty. Carolina also killed a Necas high-sticking penalty at 11:27.
“I thought we played one heck of a hockey game,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “We generated the opportunities we needed. We didn’t finish.”
Kochetkov, who was benched during Thursday’s 5-2 win over Colorado after giving up two goals in a 5-second span, bounced back with this performance. Carolina is already missing No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen due to a blood-clotting issue since early November. Antti Raanta suffered a lower-body injury in his relief effort on Thursday.
“It’s all a learning process for Kochetkov,” Brind’Amour said of the 24-year-old Russian who earned his second shutout of the season. “It’s the hardest position in sports. He’s still learning, and we’re just beginning to see what we will see from him.”
Kochetkov was sharp from the start, making a crucial save on Nico Hischier’s point-blank power-play attempt in the first two minutes and a tricky glove save on a rebound attempt by Erik Haula seven minutes into the second period.
The Hurricanes’ offense got a boost with the return of forward Andrei Svechnikov, who had been out since Jan. 21 with an upper-body injury. Svechnikov, who has 30 points in 30 games this season, missed the previous six games.
Despite Svechnikov’s return, the Hurricanes have been outshot only thrice in the past 13 games, twice by the Devils.
The Hurricanes improved to 5-0-3 with the win when wearing their Hartford Whalers throwback uniforms.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Host Seattle on Monday night.
- Hurricanes: Visit Dallas on Tuesday night.
