Aho’s OT winner gives Carolina fifth straight victory, 4-3 over Panthers

Carolina's Sebastian Aho scored the game-winning goal 1:46 into overtime to lift the surging Hurricanes to 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla. Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek made three saves on breakaways in a hectic 3-on-3 overtime, setting the stage for All-Star Aho to score his 27th goal on a clever dish from Nino Niederreiter on a 2-on-1 rush.

Brock McGinn, Greg McKegg and Brett Pesce scored in regulation for the Hurricanes, and Mrazek made 31 saves to win his fourth straight for Carolina, which has used a 13-3-0 run to earn third place in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina won its fifth in a row. Henrik Borgstrom scored twice and had an assist for his first career three-point game, and Mark Pysyk had a goal and a helper for the Panthers, who lost for the third straight time in their fourth consecutive overtime game.

Jamie McGinn and Dryden Hunt each recorded two assists, and Florida goalie Sam Montembeault stopped 22 shots in his NHL debut. The two teams played nine days ago in South Florida, and Carolina used eight power plays - scoring on a pair - to defeat the Panthers 4-3 by rallying in a two-goal third period in that one.

McGinn and McKegg took advantage of poor defensive play by Florida in front of Montembeault in the opening minutes to give Carolina a 2-0 lead. McGinn stripped the puck from Florida defenseman Keith Yandle and beat Montembeault on the short side on the second shot the 22-year-old Quebec native faced, and McKegg streaked in unimpeded and netted his fifth goal at 2:05.

Borgstrom got one back quickly for Florida when he beat Mrazek top shelf at 14:59 as the teams scored three goals in their first eight combined shots, and Pysyk tied it with his first goal since Dec. 7, 2017, firing a shot in after an icing and a faceoff win by Borgstrom. The two clubs generated nine shots apiece in the second period with Florida owning the only power play, but Mrazek and Montembeault kept all 18 from reaching the net to keep it at 2-2.

Borgstrom gave Florida a 3-2 lead at 5:32 of the third after some hard boardwork by McGinn behind Mrazek, but Pesce knotted it again at 8:19 when he backhanded in a bouncing puck to make it 3-3. --Field Level Media

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