Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) celebrates his game-winning overtime goal with Nikolaj Ehlers (27), Shayne Gostisbehere, and Taylor Hall (71) during Carolina’s 4-3 win over the Canucks on Friday at Lenovo Center. (Karl DeBlaker / AP Photo)
RALEIGH — The Hurricanes suffered multiple self-inflicted wounds — both on the scoreboard and on the injury front — but rallied past the visiting Canucks in a 4-3 overtime win Friday at Lenovo Center.
Carolina outshot Vancouver 38-17 and had 22 of the game’s 24 high-danger chances but still trailed entering the third period.
But Taylor Hall — filling in on the top line for an injured Seth Jarvis — scored at 6:26 of the third frame to tie the game, and Sebastian Aho got the winner with 31 seconds left in overtime as Carolina improved to 12-5-0 on the season.
“You don’t always get what you deserve in this game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “but we got what we deserved with the two points.”
That doesn’t mean the Hurricanes didn’t make it hard on themselves. Bad turnovers and undisciplined penalties handed the Canucks three goals, negating Carolina’s steep territorial advantage throughout the night.
The Hurricanes also had to overcome more injuries, including a scary one to Jarvis, who left the game in the first period after teammate Andrei Svechikov’s stick hit him in the right eye. Jarvis was seen on press row shortly after the injury, and Brind’Amour confirmed that his star winger dodged a potentially severe injury.
“They think so,” Brind’Amour said when asked if Jarvis had avoided something catastrophic. “He got it kind of in the eye; don’t know much more, but it sounded positive. … I don’t expect him to be out long, that’s for sure.”
The injury came in the middle of a wild first period during which the Hurricanes carried play but still found themselves tied 2-2 after 20 minutes.
After keeping the puck in the Vancouver end for the game’s first 2½ minutes, Carolina allowed the game’s first goal after defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and Canucks forward Mackenzie MacEachern got tangled up in the neutral zone.
Max Sasson jumped on the loose puck and scored on a breakaway for a 1-0 lead at 2:45.
The Hurricanes, however, picked up where they left off.
Jarvis knocked a clearing attempt out of the air near the Canucks blue line to keep the puck in the zone and fed it to Aho. Aho found Svechnikov in the right circle for a one-timer that got past Kevin Lankinen (34 saves) to tie the game at 4:20 of the first.
On the same sequence Jarvis was injured, he was cross-checked to the ice, giving Carolina a power play, and Svechnikov got his second of the night and sixth of the season on another right circle one-timer, this time from Gostisbehere, for a 2-1 Hurricanes lead at 5:14.
Svechnikov finished the night with three points and has six goals and six assists in his last nine games after going without a point in the first eight games of the season.
“I just changed my stick, to be honest, a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “So I think that’s why everything’s going in right now.”
Both goals were scored on a slap shot, a weapon Svechnikov has added since coming into the league.
“There’s nobody that works harder at it,” Brind’Amour said. “He shoots parks just constantly since we’ve known him. So it’s hard to believe that he could develop that because he does shoot pretty hard since we’ve known him, but maybe he’s adding that to this repertoire here.”
But another mistake allowed the Canucks to tie the game.
With Carolina on its second power play, Sean Walker dropped back a pass in the Hurricanes zone that went right to Vancouver center Elias Pettersson, who snapped a shot past Pyotr Kochetkov (14 saves) to knot the game up again at 9:14 of the opening period.
Walker then went to the penalty box early in the second period, and Brock Boeser took advantage of Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller being without a stick, zipping a seam pass to the right circle that Connor Garland fired into the net at 3:13 of the middle frame for a 3-2 Vancouver lead.
“We were playing a really good game, and we gave up a couple chances — and we gave up a couple chances, not like they had to do much to get them, and that’s the tough part,” Brind’Amour said.
Carolina’s depth, which has kept the team afloat despite several key injuries, proved beneficial again when Hall, elevated to the top line, scored off a Gostisbehere pass to tie the game in the third.
“That’s a huge goal to tie it up,” Aho said.
Gostisbehere then picked up his third assist of the night on Aho’s overtime game winner. Aho won the draw back to Gostisbehere and then got the puck back near the boards. He spun away from Pettersson and charged toward the right circle, shooting past Lankinen’s blocker for his seventh goal of the season.
“That’s definitely not the set play or anything,” Aho said. “It’s kind of how it worked, and that’s 3-on-3 —you’ve got more time. If that’s 5-on-5, the next guy’s coming at you. In overtime, you’ve got more time and space, and I was able to use it.”
The goal came after Vancouver possessed the puck for much of the overtime, including keeping Gostisbehere and Walker on the ice for nearly three minutes.
“Just be patient,” said Gostisbehere, who was playing his second game since returning from injury. “It wasn’t even that bad of a shift, to be honest, tired-wise.”
Then Aho’s first game-winning goal of the year gave the Hurricanes, adversity and all, a much-deserved win.
“You just have to keep going,” Aho said. “There’s no other way.”
Notes: Jesperi Kotkaniemi left the game in the second period with an ankle injury after blocking a shot. Brind’Amour did not have an update on his availability for Saturday’s game against Edmonton. … Nikolaj Ehlers’ assist on Svechnikov’s power play goal extended his point streak to six games. … Aho played an even 24 minutes, the most of any Carolina forward this season. … The Hurricanes finished with 79.09% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, holding an 87-23 edge. … Kochetkov improved to 3-0-0 on the season.