RALEIGH, N.C. — The Colorado Avalanche made it two wins over the Carolina Hurricanes in less than a week Thursday, coming away with a 3-2 overtime victory at PNC Arena.
Artturi Lehkonen’s goal at 1:55 of OT decided it, Lehkonen zipping a sharp-angle shot past Antti Raanta.
Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas scored in regulation for the Canes (10-5-2), Necas tying the score 2-2 in the third period. The Avs (9-5-1) twice had leads as Evan Rodrigues had a power-play goal in the first and Alex Newhook scored in the second for a 2-1 lead.
The Canes outshot the Avs 48-15 in the game but goalie Pavel Francouz was a difference maker with 46 saves.
Some takeaways from the game:
— Francouz has two wins this season. Both over Carolina. He stopped 24 of 25 shots in the 4-1 win Saturday in Denver and 46 of 48 Thursday. Enough said?
— Aho had not scored in his past five games, goal-less since his hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres, and some frustration was showing, In the first period, he was open at the post but could not punch the puck past Francouz, slamming his stick into the glass behind the net.
That ended in the second period, Aho whistling a shot past Francouz from the top of the right circle. You could almost hear him exhale.
— Aho is known more for his speed and skill that spine-straightening hits but he put one on Newhook in the first period that sent Newhook sprawling into the boards. That came not long after Aho won the race to prevent an icing call, only to have the ref call icing anyway.
With boos cascading to the ice and Brind’Amour hot behind the bench, the refs conferred and moved the faceoff to center ice.
— Newhook evened the score with Aho — and gave the Avs a 2-1 lead — in the second. Newhook first won a faceoff, then won a race down the ice to beat Raanta with a backhander.
— Puck luck? Avs defenseman Andreas Englund factored into the Necas goal, colliding with Francouz behind the net and knocking away his goalie stick. Necas swept in for an easy shot and score.
— Put this in the stats-can-be-worthless category: the Canes had 12 scoring chances to the Avs’ four in the opening period and five high-danger chances. The Avs had one. And scored, on Evan Rodrigues’ power-play goal.
After 40 minutes, the Canes’ had a 26-9 edge in scoring chances. The Avs led 2-1.
— When the opening lineups were announced, it was the Nathan MacKinnon line for the Avs and the Jordan Staal line for the Canes. Plus Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce on defense. That game within the game began with the opening puck drop.
With last change at home. Canes coach Brind’Amour could get the matchup he wanted against the Avs’ stars.
— In March, Raanta shut out Avs 2-0 with 36 saves at PNC Arena. Ethan Bear had the game-winning goal in the third period and the Canes had the best winning percentage in the NHL. The Avs won the 2022 Stanley Cup. Bear is gone. Things change.
— The Hockey Fights Cancer awareness game is always special and meaningful at PNC Arena.
Brind’Amour put it best: “It’s good to be reminded of the bigger picture, because we get caught up in talking about hockey when there’s so much going on. This is a reminder. Everybody is affected by it. Anything we can do to create awareness, which creates funds, which creates people having their opportunities to deal with cancer, is special.”
