The Carolina Hurricanes rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Washington Capitals 4-2 Friday night at PNC Arena.
It took until their 31st shot on goal and over halfway through the game to break through, but once they did, the Canes didn't look back.
Jake Guentzel kicked off the scoring (and capped it off with the empty netter) and Martin Necas and Sebastian Aho followed suit with a power play goal each.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves in the win.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Aho, Guentzel and Necas spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the comeback: We were playing great, it was just a couple of bad breaks is really what happened. I thought... if we won the game or not, I liked how we were going about our business for the most part. Sometimes that happens. You get one and then the flood gates can kind of open up. Not that that happened, but we were able to get one and then the power play came through. It's not necessarily how you draw it up, but it was a solid 60 minutes.
On Martin Necas' shot: His game this year has been pretty solid all the way. That's what they were giving you, so you got to take it. Find a way to get through the block. Obviously it was a great shot. Post and in. Interesting game, I would say.
On Jack Guentzel's seamless transition: He's been really good obviously. I don't know. It's hard to think about who [has had a better set of games since joining a team at the deadline] at this point. I mean, at the end of the day, we didn't bring him in for these 15 games. But he's done a nice job fitting in wherever we put him and whoever we put him has made them better. That's what a great player does.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: He didn't have a lot of work and you can't fault him on the first two, just bad breaks really. Good plays by them. But the turning point for me was really when it was 2-0 and we were still trying to get into it and we gave them a breakaway and then another grade-A right after it. So the game wasn't out of reach. Obviously when we tied it up, we gave the best player again the puck on his stick. Obviously not the way you want to do it, but got to get those saves and we did.
On the penalty kill: They did... I mean, Ovie again gets the one off and it's off the bar. Man. I mean, he's a special player, but I'll be happy to see him be done, to be honest with you. Because it's on his stick and no matter what... I mean that was a wrist shot from inside the blueline and it was a blast. It was right off the bar and out. He's just a special player and I've just seen way too much of him.
On Teuvo Teravainen's zone entry on the tying goal: It was a good entry. He made a real nice play on the entry and that was why we were able to get the shot off. That was the reason we were able to get the goal, get the lucky rebound that lands on our stick. You have to get something before that and the entry, he was a big part of that.
On Andrei Svechnikov's status: He just didn't feel right. We've talked about this a lot. There's just not any reason to put guys in that aren't 100%.
On the intentional offsides call on Jesper Fast before Washington's second goal: It was a weird night that way. I had a hard time with it because [Fast] isn't the guy that's going to go in there intentionally. If he knew it was offsides he wasn't going to keep doing it. And they didn't even give him a lot of time to get out. Then with a minute to go. That's what can happen. Nothing going on and then it kind of influences how the games going. Those are the kinds of things that drive a coach crazy. But we don't have to talk about that.
Sebastian Aho
On the game: Scorewise, we were down two after the first. That's one of the greatest goal scorers of all time and he gets two there. We were down two but I don't think we played that bad to be down two, but that's hockey. That happens sometimes. The way we just battled our way back into the game shows a lot of good things about our team.
On the team's mentality to stick with their game: You just try to block everything and just keep trying to build your game. You just believe that it will happen sooner or later and obviously it did. It doesn't matter if you're up or down or if it's an even game. You just try to kind of do the same thing always and that's what we did a good job of tonight.
On his goal: We tried to end the game there and we were able to do that. The bounce was a little lucky. I had an empty cage, but I still think we did a pretty good job overall on the power play tonight and got two goals.
On special teams: This time of year, 5v5 is pretty even. Some nights you may get an edge there or whatever, but special teams are huge. Obviously [Kochetkov] in the net again had an unbelievable effort and gave us a chance to win.
On Jake Guentzel finally starting to get his goals: Wasn't really worried about him. Guy can score.
On Guentzel's seamless fit: First off, both guys we picked up are good people. They bring good, positive vibes in the locker room and I think it all starts from that. Both of them are great players and they really helped us tonight and I know they'll help us even more coming down the stretch. He's an unbelievable player. He's done it his whole career. So it's not anything new for him.
Jake Guentzel
On Jaccob Slavin: He's just an unbelievable player and fun to watch him firsthand. You know, playing against him is tough out there.
On his seamless transition: I'm playing with good players and just getting the bounces. Just have to take them as they come. Just trying t adjust to a new team and it's been going good so far, so hopefully it keeps going.
On staying patient: You just have to keep pushing. You can't get frustrated. It's hopefully going to come like it did tonight. We just have to make sure we stuck to it. It didn't matter how long it was going to take, we just have to keep pushing.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: That's part of the game, sometimes you need a big save and I thought he was phenomenal again tonight. A lot of credit goes to him for keeping us in there. Glad we got the win for him.
On being able to produce consistently: That's kind of what you hope for. As a player, you don't want to mess anything up on a good team and you kind of just hope you come in here and make it as easy as possible. The guys have been great for me, especially the two guys I've been playing with. It's been fun.
Martin Necas
On staying patient: We had quite a few chances. Their goalie played good obviously. They got the two bounces in the first and then they got the chances and they scored on them. I felt like we didn't play a bad game. We played pretty good. Had a lot of chances. Stuck with our game, got a power play and special teams are huge.
On the confidence in his shot: I just have to keep shooting there. When we get into the zone, you have to shoot a bit to break them down. I'm confident with that shot and if I get it there I'll keep shooting. Sometimes it goes post-in, sometimes it goes post-out. But today it went in and I was happy to see it.
On scoring from Ovechkin's spot: We kind of exchanged roles today, right? Today he scored two goals in front where he's really strong. I've been watching him since I was a little kid on that spot. He used to be my favorite player. Obviously that shot that he has from that spot is like no one else. Just trying to get close to [how he does it].
On who his favorite player is now: Sebastian Aho.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: They've both been great. Really all three of them have been great. It's getting close to the playoffs and you need every little thing that's out there. Goalie's are huge and they've really been clicking.