RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Brett Pesce scored his second goal of the game at 1:41 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
Antti Raanta made a season-high 38 saves and Jordan Martinook also scored for Carolina. The Hurricanes are 7-0-1 since the Christmas break and have at least a point in 14 of 15 games.
Pesce had scored only one goal in the first 33 games of the season.
“He has had so many opportunities this year,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Like he said to us, he has been saving them up for the right time.”
Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry stopped 32 shots.
Rust tied it at 2 with 52 seconds left in the regulation after coach Mike Sullivan pulled Jarry. With the extra skater on the ice, Rust was able to get the rebound of Erik Karlsson’s shot past Raanta.
Both goalies stood out, Brind’Amour said.
“(Raanta) was great but their guy was phenomenal,” Brind’Amour said. “He kept them in the game and then, obviously, we were able to pull it out.”
It has been an eventful month for Raanta, who cleared waivers and was sent down to the AHL before Christmas but has returned to win two his three starts.
“Good things happen when you trust your instincts and trust yourself,” Raanta said. “Obviously, getting a couple of wins here and there helps to keep the confidence up. Hockey is a lot of fun right now.”
The Hurricanes led 2-0 after two periods when it appeared Sidney Crosby would get the Penguins on the board with a one-timer. Raanta, who was shaken up in the second period after a collision with Guentzel, was able to snag Crosby’s shot with this glove at 6:23 in the third.
“That one save was spectacular but he made a bunch of other close ones in tight,” Brind’Amour said. “He was right on. He allowed us to get the win.”
Raanta said there was more than skill involved in the key save on Crosby.
“It’s more of a little bit of ‘puck luck’ also that your glove happens to be there when you stretch out like that,” Raanta said.
He also said he knew Crosby wasn’t finished. Twenty-two seconds later, Crosby found Guentzel from across the ice for a one-timer that did get past Raanta.
Pesce, with assists from Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 6:12 in the first period with a little bit of luck. Jarry made two impressive saves, in the first minute of the game, but Pesce was able to get a shot past the him with a stray bounce off of the glove of Penguins center Lars Eller.
The assist gave Aho 18 points over his past nine games, while Svechnikov has 16 points in the past nine games.
The Penguins went 0 for 4 on the power play. They haven’t won in Raleigh (0-3-3) since December 2018.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Seattle on Monday night.
Hurricanes: Host Los Angeles on Monday night.
