Especially through the opening period, Pittsburgh did a good job winning 50/50 puck battles in the offensive zone, particularly along the boards.
In the middle frame, Martin Necas tied things up for the visitors. The puck moved from low-to-high, and while Tristan Jarry stopped the initial blast from the blue line, Necas was able to find the rebound and put it in the back of the net.
Andrei Svechnikov gave Carolina a 2-1 lead just under 12 minutes after the Necas tally by collecting a puck that hopped out of Jarry's glove and quickly scored a wraparound tally on the backhand.
During the 3rd period, with Jarry pulled in favor of the extra attacker, Jake Guentzel scored with only 57.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
"Obviously, down 2-1 late in the game - to tie it up, you've got to get those points while you can," Jeff Petry said.
Extra time went in favor of the Hurricanes, but it was not without a bit of controversy. Bryan Rust was hit in the back by Seth Jarvis a few feet away from the boards. Rust went down hard, and his teammates came to his defense while waiting for a boarding call… A boarding call which never came. Carolina collected the puck and Jarry found himself on the band end of a 2-on-0, where Carolina netted the game-winner.
"I thought when I was jumping in in the pile there, I thought it was going to be a penalty. To me, it looked like it was. I don't know - obviously, they saw it differently. So yeah, it's a tough one to swallow," Petry said.
Here is what Coach Sullivan had to say following the game…
On the last few seconds of OT before Carolina's game-winning goal:"When you saw it from the bench, up close, at that speed it was at - that was the reaction. That reaction was real, because it was a dangerous hit. So I disagree with the call."
On Ruhwedel and Kapanen rejoining the lineup: "I thought they played solid games. I thought 'Kappy' was trying to use his speed. I thought Chad brings the game that he always brings - he is just a steady, solid defenseman that plays within himself. So I thought both of them had decent games for us."
On Jarry tonight: "I think he is building his game. You know, we have such high expectations of Jars. I think he is building his game, I think he I making progress. He made some good saves for us tonight, it was a low scoring game. Carolina's a team that shoots the puck from everywhere, there's a lot of point shots, shots from the boards. Trying to create that next play - that is hard to defend. So I thought he did a pretty good job controlling those rebounds, which I think is an important aspect when you play a team like Carolina that's trying to utilize that strategy to manufacture offense. Controlling those rebounds so they don't go in dangerous areas… I thought Jars did a good job at that tonight."
