Coach Rod Brind’Amour figured the puck would eventually have to bounce the right way for his Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. Fittingly, his captain was ready when it did.
Jordan Staal scored off a rebound at 2 minutes, 3 seconds into overtime to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Nashville Predators, pushing Carolina to a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Staal was jostling for position just outside the crease when Brett Pesce fired a shot toward Juuse Saros, who made the stop and poked the puck forward, but Staal batted it out of the air and past Saros into the net.
Photo: AP
Staal gave a yell and immediately skated backward with his arms outstretched until he reached the boards, where his teammates mobbed him in front of a roaring home crowd of 12,000 people.
“Not a whole lot of thoughts going through my mind besides just wanting some bear hugs from the fellas,” Staal said.
Staal’s score ended what was the third straight game to go to extra time, with the Predators winning a pair of grueling double-overtime contests in games 3 and 4 in the best-of-seven series.
However, this one moved the Hurricanes within a win of closing it out and advancing in the post-season.
In Tuesday’s other game, Alex Galchenyuk pushed his former team to the brink of playoff elimination as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 in Montreal on Tuesday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round series.
Galchenyuk has had plenty of memorable nights inside the Bell Centre, but in his latest standout performance for Toronto he set up two goals and scored into an empty net against the Canadiens.
Toronto’s Jack Campbell also made 32 saves in his first playoff shutout.
Asked if he still speaks with anyone on the other team, Galchenyuk said: “It’s the playoffs, man. You know what time it is right now.”
“There’s no friends,” he added.
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