Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from Overtime Win in New York vs. Islanders

The Carolina Hurricanes triumphed over the New York Islanders in overtime earlier this afternoon by a score of 3-2. Here’s what happened.

Well, this is a breath of fresh air. The Carolina Hurricanes, for the first time since the fateful Toronto Maple Leafs/David Ayres affair, have won a hockey game.

They did relinquish a point to the New York Islanders, so there’s that. But, all things consider, a win is a win. The Carolina Hurricanes are still far off from a playoff spot, and still have a long road ahead as they navigate the gauntlet of Metropolitan Division games in the coming days and weeks.

Today’s game was pretty rough-and-tumble, as games between the Canes and Islanders usually are. Noted enforcer Ryan Dzingel even got into a ‘scrap’ with noted Anna Kendrick admirer Anthony Beauvillier, but aside from that, the game was basically chippy the whole time.

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Both teams were looking to stop their respective skids; the Canes at a losing streak of 4 and the Isles at a losing streak of 5 before this afternoon’s matinee matchup.

A tally in the ‘W’ column was just what the Carolina Hurricanes needed, even if it came at the cost of a point to another Metropolitan Division team.

To start things off, the Carolina Hurricanes did something that they haven’t really been doing lately. They (Haydn Fleury, initially, but the goal was later credited to Justin Williams) scored the first goal.

After this afternoon’s tilt, the Carolina Hurricanes are 19-0-1 when scoring the first goal. The only other team in the league who is undefeated in regulation after scoring the first goal are none other than the Washington Capitals.

After the opening goal, the game was basically even; momentum shifted back and forth between New York and Carolina, ultimately leading to a tied game at 1, then a Canes lead (thanks to noted offensive defenseman Joel Edmundson) going into the last few minutes of the 3rd period; shortly after, the Islanders would tie the game at 2 with a few minutes of the 3rd, in which Anton Forsberg stood on his head to keep the game tied and to force overtime.

This is when things get interesting.

The Carolina Hurricanes got a man advantage about a minute or so into the OT period due to a high-sticking call the Isles took in the last minute or so of the 3rd period. A solid play in front of Isles netminder Thomas Greiss led to Andrei Svechnikov batting the puck down with a ‘high-stick’ (more on that in a minute), that didn’t go in the net.

Instead, the puck landed right on the tape of newcomer Vincent Trocheck, who shot the puck off the chest of a diving Scott Mayfield that wound up in the back of the net behind Greiss.

The refs reviewed the play because it appeared that Svechnikov batted the puck down with a high stick. Since the puck didn’t go in off of that play, the stick would’ve had to have been above his shoulders (it was not) instead of above the crossbar (it was), thus making Trocheck’s first goal as a Carolina Hurricane a good goal (and an overtime game-winner, at that).

The momentum from winning this one will hopefully carry over into tomorrow’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which will be yet another back-to-back, as well as another matinee game for the Carolina Hurricanes.