Staal lifts Hurricanes past Lightning in OT in Game 3

TAMPA --Jordan Staal scored at 5:57 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Second Round at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

With Carolina on a power play, Sebastian Aho curled into the high slot for a one-timer that deflected in short side off Staal, who was providing the screen.
"I'm always proud of the group," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Whatever happens to them, they find a way to focus on the game and just go do their job, and that's what happened tonight."
Aho had a goal and two assists, and Teuvo Teravainen had two assists for the Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed in the Discover Central Division, who lost the first two games of the series at home. Petr Mrazek made 35 saves in his first start this postseason.
"It's fun to play, especially the playoffs. Those moments are forever," Mrazek said. "You're trying to do the best that you can. Win the game and help the team."

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, the No. 3 seed who won the first two games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
Game 4 of the best-of-7 series will be played here Saturday (4 p.m. ET; USA, SN, TVAS).
"We've been in spots like this before," Point said. "We played a good game. I think it might be different if we felt like we didn't play a good game and they won. For the most part, I liked our game, I liked our compete. Give Carolina credit, they played hard as well. They got this one. We've got to be sharp for the next one."
Brett Pesce gave Carolina a 1-0 lead, its first of the series, with a one-timer from the top of the right circle at 5:15 of the second period.
"I'm just so proud of everyone on our team," Pesce said. "We get punched in the face over and over again ... tough bounces ... and we just stick with it. Kudos to our team and [Brind'Amour] to keep on relaying that message. We just kept at it and the power play came up big for us."
Aho extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:40 when he got behind the defense and shot five-hole.
"It feels great, but at the same time, this is our first win in the series," Aho said. "We just have to keep going and going for Game 4 and just do it over and over again and trust our system."
Point cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:57, scoring off a backdoor pass from Nikita Kucherov.
"I think we were pushing the play, I think we were a lot better offensively," Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We were winning our battles, creating some havoc. There were a lot of things we did well, it just didn't go our way tonight. If we bring the same mentality into the next game, I like our chances."

Alex Killorn tied it 2-2 with another power-play goal at 16:18. He beat Mrazek with a one-timer from the slot after Kucherov chased down his rebound.
"We've had a pretty good series here," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I think our team has gotten better every single game, and that's what I like. ... We just have to keep going. You can't hang your head on these. You've just got to turn the page and go to the next one. The playoffs are one big [darn] roller coaster."
NOTES:Hurricanes forward Warren Foegele left in the second period with an upper-body injury. Brind'Amour said he hopes to know more about the injury Friday. ... Kucherov leads the playoffs with 10 power-play points (three goals, seven assists). ... Carolina won 57 percent of the face-offs (30-for-53). ... Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak led all players with nine hits.