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    Ryan Henkel
    Ryan Henkel
    Oct 27, 2023, 03:33
    © James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports - Necas Calls Game as Hurricanes Complete Comeback in Overtime

    In those tense moments, when the score is tied and any wrong move could be your last, is when the Martin Necas Show begins.

    Dazzling displays of speed and skill are what you'll be treated to and more often than not, the climax will be a blistering shot from 88 puffing out the back of the opposing net.

    "That's [Necas'] time, for sure," said head coach Rod Brind'Amour. "He loves it. So you try to get him out there every chance you can because he's got that ability."

    Thursday night at PNC Arena, thousands were once again treated to the Martin Necas Show as the Czech showstopper capped off a three-point night with a buzzer-beater finish to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 comeback win over the Seattle Kraken.

    And in emphatic fashion, once the puck was in, Necas "hung up" on the Kraken, imitating Ben Shelton's US Open celebration.

    "It's special, said defenseman Brady Skjei on Necas' overtime abilities. "The way he can skate and move the puck and make plays. He was the star of the show tonight."

    The Hurricanes, despite outchancing the Kraken 26-14 in the first period, saw themselves staring at a 2-0 hole.

    "Their two goals... I mean one of them I thought it was going to be an icing for sure," Brind'Amour said. "Their guy knocks it out of the air... you're not going to see that very often. But really, it was two great individual efforts on their parts. First goal was a heck of a move and then right off the post. Great shot. Playing pretty well, and we're down two."

    However, the Canes got a little late-period magic as Seattle defenseman Brian Dumoulin blew a tire and Carolina's second line quickly pounced on the opportunity. 

    Jesperi Kotkaniemi collected the puck, fed it behind the net to Michael Bunting who then put it to towards the crease where Necas had crashed to and the Czech forward banged it home.

    "Big goal to get back within one," Brind'Amour said. "I think that was huge going into the first intermission to be like, 'Okay, we're in striking range.'"

    From there, the Hurricanes just started shelling the Kraken. 

    Nearly through 60 minutes, Carolina was outshooting Seattle 44-23 and outchancing them 79-36.

    Chance after chance started to pile up, but Joey Daccord and the Kraken were stalwart.

    But it was only an inevitability.

    We've always had that confidence in this room that we never get too rattled when we're down and I think that shows in the way we play," Skjei said. "We know that we create enough chances when we play the way we know how to play. Gotta bear down when you get a chance, but we know that we're going to create enough chances by the end of the game."

    Starting from the defensive zone, Skjei picked off a pass and started to lead the rush up the ice. With a Kraken player all over him, Skjei then laced a pass through a few more over to Necas who spun and fed Kotkaniemi for the easy bury.

    "I was in the D-zone and I was lucky to get a stick on the puck," Skjei said. "Then I just took a couple of hard strides. Felt the guy on my back and just kept going. Heard Necas on the other side so I just tried to get it over and I think I got lucky with it getting through a few sticks and then Necas made a great play to KK. It was a big goal."

    "We had a lot of great individual efforts tonight on goals that I want to point out," Brind'Amour said. "On the tying goal, Brady Skjei... I don't think you realize how hard it is when you're tired, dead standing still and everyone else has got speed coming from behind and to be able to get up the ice and make that play, which obviously was the biggest play of the game. Kudos to him"

    The Hurricanes had done it again. It was another multi-goal comeback for the 'Cardiac Canes.'

    "We've seen a lot of games where it doesn't happen that way, but I think we're pretty happy with that game, especially the response and how we stuck with it," Brind'Amour said. "To your point, we definitively put on a push and had a lot of really good opportunities and finally cashed in on the one. I think we got the two points that we deserved, but I like how we stuck with what we were trying to do."

    However, the job wasn't yet finished.

    Heading into overtime, Carolina and Seattle played an elaborate game of keep-away, pulling back and reentering the offensive zones constantly, but eventually the Hurricanes found the moment they needed.

    Necas started from his defensive zone and slowly moved his way up to the offensive zone. He passed it across to Tony DeAngelo who opened up some more more space before sending it back to the Czech forward. 

    With the clock ticking down, Necas settled the puck, took aim and ripped it, beating Daccord high-shoulder with under 10 seconds remaining in the overtime for his eighth career overtime winner, the second most in franchise history behind Sebastian Aho (9). 

    "It's important to get going," Necas said on the win. "Coming back, the first period I would say was not great, but then the next two periods I felt we were dominant. It's just how we have to play. We didn't give them much and created a lot in the o-zone. That's Carolina Hurricanes, baby."


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