Barzal, Islanders recover, defeat Hurricanes in OT

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Mathew Barzal scored with 2:15 remaining in overtime to give the New York Islanders a 5-4 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday.

Barzal, who also had three assists, scored with a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a return pass from Noah Dobson.

“Just a heck of an effort by the entire group tonight,” Barzal said. “It feels great to get the win. If you ask anybody around the League, this is probably the hardest place to come in and play. When they get rolling around and the crowd gets into it, it’s borderline impossible to change the momentum.”

Sebastian Aho tied it 4-4 for Carolina with three seconds left in the third period, stuffing the puck between the pads of Semyon Varlamov.

“When they tied the game, that was an awful feeling,” Varlamov said. “Three seconds left, it’s tough to give up those kinds of goals. Then ‘Barzy’ scored, it was over and we got two points. That was a crazy game. It’s the best feeling when the boys score in overtime.”

Dobson had three assists, and Varlamov made 39 saves for the Islanders (9-7-6), who are 4-1-3 in their past eight games.

“I think the whole game, we were committed,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “We blocked a lot of shots (30), we did a lot of things we needed to do to win a hockey game in this building. I thought we did a pretty good job of making sure that we stuck to battling and not worrying about their shot total.”

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 11 saves for the Hurricanes (13-8-1), who had won two in a row.

“That was one of the better games we’ve played all year,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We can’t play much better than that. I love the way we played, every part of that game was solid. We limited what they were doing.”

Jalen Chatfield gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 8:08 of the first period. He chipped the puck on net from the slot, and his rebound attempt hit Varlamov, went over the goalie and trickled into the net.

Bo Horvat tied it 1-1 at 18:00 when he redirected Barzal’s pass from the left face-off circle.

Staal put Carolina ahead 2-1 at 2:01 of the second period, scoring on a long rebound off Jordan Martinook’s sharp-angled shot.

“I thought we played pretty well,” said Staal, the Hurricanes captain. “I thought our 5-on-5 play was good. We hit a bunch of posts and [had] a couple other great chances, and we came up short by one.”

The Islanders scored short-handed to tie it 2-2 at 15:59. After Seth Jarvis turned the puck over at Carolina's offensive blue line, Simon Holmstrom took a pass from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, held the puck on a 2-on-1 and lifted a backhand over Kochetkov’s glove.

“I [cost] us pretty bad there,” Jarvis said. “The power-play one is on me. I’ve got to make a play there. It’s nice to score late, to know that we can come back, but we’ve got to win that.”

Holmstrom’s goal was his sixth in 21 games this season, matching his total in 50 games last season. It was also his third short-handed goal of the season.

“I was just trying to fake him out for the backhand pass and go upstairs there,” Holmstrom said.

Pierre Engvall gave New York a 3-2 lead at 18:03. He cut from the right-side boards to the slot and scored five-hole.

“[Kochetkov] knows he’s got to have a couple saves,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s the difference. You can’t go through the game without giving up a couple Grade A opportunities. We’ve got to get a few of those, and he will. We’ve just got to get that consistency in that position and we’re in good shape.”

Jack Drury tied it 3-3 at 39 seconds of the third off Stefan Noesen’s backhand feed across the slot.

Kyle Palmieri put New York up 4-3 on the power play at 6:41. He tipped Dobson’s point shot before tapping in his own rebound.

NOTES: The Islanders have scored eight goals on 41 shots in two games against the Hurricanes, including a 4-3 overtime loss at home Nov. 4. … New York had a season-low 16 shots. … Carolina went 0-for-3 on the power play and is 1-for-18 in its past five games.