The Carolina Hurricanes won...somehow...and Alexander Nikishin almost completed Gordie Howe's hat trick.
Facing the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first of three meetings in March, the Hurricanes were nearly overpowered by a lack of discipline and some honestly questionable calls in the game, which certainly created some playoff-style energy.
Logan Stankoven opened the match with a goal eight minutes into the match, but Nikolaj Ehlers was injured shortly after in a tangle with Erik Karlsson in the corner boards. Thankfully, he returned at the beginning of the second frame and played the rest of the game.
Less than 20 seconds after Ehlers' injury, Anthony Mantha tied the game with less than a minute remaining in the first period.
As the second period began, so did the onslaught of penalties.
The Hurricanes spent eight minutes in the box, six of which were in favor of the Penguins. The third penalty – drawn when William Carrier closed his hands on the puck – resulted in a power play goal by Bryan Rust, giving Pittsburgh the lead.
However, the fourth penalty was taken by Alexander Nikishin, who also drew a penalty on Noel Acciari after he pulled the Penguins winger into a duel while his teams dunked it in the melee. However, this resulted in equally harsh punishments as they more or less stuck to each other.
Things got wild in the third period
In the third period, the Hurricanes finally got control of their game and kept a clean frame, with Mark Jankowski tying the game and Seth Jarvis giving them the go-ahead goal.
This time, the Penguins kept the penalty box bench hot, and even gave the Hurricanes a pair of two-man advantages.
Nikishin was able to convert a very well executed back-and-forth play to tie the special teams goals and give the Hurricanes a two-goal lead. If the feud with Accieri had been more than any foul, Nikishin would have got a Gordie Howe hat-trick. This wouldn't be the first time he's gotten close to someone this season, and I'd be surprised if it's the last.
However, with more than two minutes left in the game, the arena DJ saw fit to play the Hurricanes' celebration song, 'Sweet Caroline', which is usually played in the final seconds of a sure-win game.
And can you guess what happened? Acciari and Rust tied the game while Stuart Skinner hit the bench.
And then came overtime
Overtime began, which saw Jakob Slavin enter the penalty box after barely a slash on the stick of Anthony Mantha. However, that apparently wasn't an issue as Mantha then beat goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Despite some back-and-forth attempts, no goal could be scored after which a shootout took place.
Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake went for the Hurricanes, while Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov and Anthony Mantha did so for the Penguins. Svechnikov and Blake were both able to find the twine, but Kindel was the only penguin to have such luck.
The Hurricanes won the game 5–4, but would see them again the following Wednesday.
Special teams performed well
Going into the game, the Hurricanes were at a notable disadvantage, as they ranked 11th on the power play (22.5%) and 14th on the penalty kill (79.4%), while the Penguins ranked sixth on the power play (25.3%) and second on the penalty kill (84.4%). Additionally, they were without their usual power play quarterback Shayne Gostisbeer, who missed his second consecutive game due to a lower body injury.
Still, he had four notable runs shorthanded, and killed four of five penalties while scoring on one of five power plays.
