Nashville, TN -- Sebastian Aho scored twice, including the overtime winner, as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Thursday night.
The win clinched the first-round series for Carolina, who beat Nashville 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.
It was far from the ideal start for the Canes, who, once again, fell behind early to Nashville.
Only 1:44 into the first period, Nick Cousins got the home team on the board off an assist from former Hurricane Erik Haula.
The answer came from a player who enjoyed playing in Bridgestone Arena this postseason: Brock McGinn.
The 27-year-old Ontario native scored his third goal of the series (all of which came in Nashville) at 4:21 of the first period. The goal drew Carolina level and lowered the volume from the Nashville crowd.
"This series, we kind of got behind the eight ball in most of the games," McGinn said. "I think we did a good job of fighting back and not quitting on the game. To get that one was big going into the second period...this team is showing some maturity, and I think we just have to carry on going forward."
The second period saw Nashville take another lead within the first two minutes.
Mikael Granlund slid the puck home after finding himself alone in front of the net, only 1:13 into the second period.
The Predators extended the lead to two goals (their first and only two-goal lead of the series) on a five-on-three advantage.
Ryan Johansen re-directed a pass from Nashville captain Roman Josi as Dougie Hamilton and Sebastian Aho served time in the penalty box.
But Aho and Hamilton would atone for their mistakes.
At 13:34 of the second period, Carolina cut the lead to one with a powerplay goal.
Hamilton made an incredible play at the blue line to hold in what looked like an easy clearance from Nashville. He then fired a slap-pass to the side of the net, which Aho re-directed past Saros.
All the while, Jordan Martinook was leading the charge, delivering big hits. One of those hits was on Nashville captain Roman Josi, who left the game with an injury and did not return.
After being outshot 21-14 through the first two periods, Carolina turned up the pressure in the third--outshooting Nashville 16-5.
The equalizer came at 13:59, off a set faceoff play.
Sebastian Aho (with help from Brock McGinn) won a draw, Dougie Hamilton crashed the net, Jaccob Slavin made a beautiful pass, and the Canes tied the game.
"I saw their guys were tired; they'd been out there for a while," Hamilton said. "I told [my teammates] let's run [the backdoor play]. It worked out perfectly; we couldn't have done it any better. It was a huge goal for us; I'm happy it worked out."
Hamilton's goal sent the series to a fourth-straight overtime game--the first series since 2012 to do so.
However, unlike Games Three and Four in Nashville, this one had a quick ending.
Another Nashville zone faceoff, another win by Aho, another re-direction, but this time, an overtime and series-winner.
After the game, Brock McGinn (someone who knows a bit about overtime and series-winning goals) shared his takeaways on the game and the series.
"We did a good job of fighting back. We got to do a better job of not putting ourselves in those scenarios. I think that shows a lot of resilience and confidence this team has in each other. I think going into the next series, we got to enjoy this here, then come back and focus on Tampa."
Housekeeping
Dougie Hamilton, Brock McGinn, and Martin Necas each had one assist for Carolina.
Mikael Granlund, Nick Cousins, and Ryan Johansen scored for Nashville.
Ryan Ellis, Mikael Granlund, Ben Harpur, Erik Haula, Roman Josi each had one assist for Nashville.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves and secured his fourth win of the playoffs.
Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Predators.
Up Next
Carolina now moves on to a second-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game One will be in Raleigh, date and time TBD.