Sebastian Aho scored at 1:25 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday at Lenovo Center. The Hurricanes recovered from blowing a two-goal third-period lead, extending their point streak to eight games. The Kings earned a point on the road, finishing their five-game trip with a 3-1-1 record.
The game began with Carolina taking an early lead on the power play. At 6:25 of the first period, Jordan Staal redirected a pass from Andrei Svechnikov past Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg for a 1-0 advantage, marking his third power-play goal of the season and 13th overall.
The score remained unchanged through a physical second period, highlighted by Kings defenseman Drew Doughty diving to deny Seth Jarvis in the crease at 18:34.
In the third, Alexander Nikishin extended the lead to 2-0 at 12:57, intercepting a clearing attempt by Brandt Clarke and snapping a shot into the net off the left post—his seventh goal of the year.
Los Angeles responded quickly. Just 24 seconds later, at 13:21, Samuel Helenius wristed a shot from the right circle off a pass from Jeff Malott to cut the deficit to 2-1. Then, at 16:49, Adrian Kempe fed Quinton Byfield at the back post for a tap-in, tying the game at 2-2 and extending Kempe's point streak to seven games.
Overtime saw Aho win it for Carolina. After receiving a backhand pass from Jarvis, Aho skated into the slot and beat Forsberg with a wrist shot that deflected off Kempe's stick at 1:25—his 18th career overtime goal, a franchise record.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour praised his team's patience: "I thought we were playing the perfect game... I love the way we just kept playing." Aho noted the defensive battle: "Two teams who I thought played pretty disciplined, defensive hockey... You've got to just stick with it."
Brandon Bussi made 11 saves on 13 shots for Carolina (34-15-6), improving to 21-3-1. Forsberg stopped 31 of 34 for the Kings (23-17-14). Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson left early with an upper-body injury after a hit from Jordan Martinook but briefly returned before exiting for good.
Carolina's power play has been potent, scoring 27 goals in their last 29 games at a 28.4% rate since Dec. 6.
