Rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin scores his first career OT winner, capping a 4-3 Carolina Hurricanes victory over Toronto.
The Carolina Hurricanes pulled off their second straight overtime win, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 Friday night at Scotiabank Arena just two days after winning 6-5 over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was also the second straight game in which a defenseman logged their first career overtime goal, with Sean Walker winning it Wednesday and Alexander Nikishin being the hero on Friday.
"Man, he can shoot the puck," said Hurricanes defenseman K'Andre Miller. "I would not want to be a goalie trying to stop one of his shots. He can rip the puck and he's getting better each game, which is fun to watch. Obviously he has a ton of skill and we believe in him to keep growing and keep doing his thing. Lots of good things from him."
For Nikishin, the game-winner was also his 10th goal of the year, meaning he's reached double-digit goal marker in his first NHL season.
He's the first rookie defenseman in franchise history to have score double-digit goals in a single season and there's still plenty of time for him to continue adding to that record.
It was a slow start overall for the Canes, who just didn't seem to have much juice out of the gate.
Even despite two early power play chances, the Hurricanes failed to get much going and due to that, the Maple Leafs were actually the team that struck first.
It was a much too easy zone entry for Toronto, as the Carolina defense failed to appropriately gap up at the blueline, but the harmless shot from the outside couldn't have been put in a worse spot by Brandon Bussi, who popped it right into the slot for an easy goal for Dakota Joshua.
But the team came out with a purpose to start the second period and thanks to another power play opportunity, the Canes found an equalizer.
It was the captain Jordan Staal right in front, deflecting in a Seth Jarvis try, to get his team on the board.
Then Carolina would pull ahead thanks to a great effort from Eric Robinson. The speedy winger sprung himself for a breakaway, but was interfered with by a Maple Leaf. However, the officials granted him a penalty shot and Robinson made no mistake.
The lead would be short lived though as John Tavares would sneak one through Bussi's five-hole after looping around the back of the Hurricanes' net.
But Carolina kept pushing and not even a penalty kill was going to slow them down. K'Andre Miller knocked a puck off of the stick of Morgan Rielly and sent himself off to the races where he deked around Toronto netminder Joseph Woll for his first career shorthanded goal.
"Honestly, the D-man just kind of fumbled it at the blueline and so I thought I could use my speed to kind of jump him and make him pressured a little bit," Miller said. "Thankfully he coughed the puck up and I just tried to make a move on the goalie and luckily it worked."
The Canes were in control and rocking from there, but the Maple Leafs would find a late equalizer in the third period as Bussi was once again beaten five-hole, this time by William Nylander.
The Hurricanes were far and away the better team on the ice Friday, but yet again, they had failed to hold a lead, something that has become much too prevalent this season.
However, the team wasted no time in overtime, with Nikishin winning the game just 41 seconds into the extra frame.
"We had some individual efforts that won us the game, in essence," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Get a penalty shot goal out of Robbie and then K'Andre, I thought he was just phenomenal tonight. Just all over it."
The Canes will continue their road trip on Sunday with a stop back in Pittsburgh for their third meeting of the month with the Penguins.
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