Carolina Hurricanes hold on for 4-3 win over Thrashers
Erik Cole lit the lamp in overtime to guide the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers at the RBC Centre on Saturday night.
Jiri Tlusty scored a goal and added an assist, while Eric Staal and Brandon Sutter both also tallied a goal for Carolina, who halted a two-game skid. Cam Ward started between the pipes and turned aside 34 shots for the winners.
Brent Sopel and Niclas Bergfors each netted a goal for the struggling Thrashers, who have lost three consecutive games and six of their previous seven. Ondrej Pavelec made 31 saves in the loss, while Zach Bogosian had another goal for Thrashers.
Bergfors notched a 1-0 lead for Atlanta in a delayed-penalty situation with seven and a half minutes left in the opening stanza. With an assistance of Bryan Little, Bergfors chipped in on the open left side of the crease.
However, Staal knotted it at 1-1 for Carolina just before the midway mark of the middle period. During a power-play, he grabbed his own rebound at the right side, and banged it high over Pavelec for his 26th goal of the 2010-11 season.
Sutter then snapped the deadlock to put Hurricanes ahead by 2-1 lead in the ninth minute of the final period, as he ripped a wrist shot from the slot into the left corner of the net.
Sopel however, pulled Atlanta even at 2-2 with nearly eight minutes left in the third period, as his unassisted shot from the top of the right circle went through a screen.
Twenty-eight seconds later, Tlusty broke the tie to give the Hurricanes a one-goal edge at 3-2, yet again with seven and a half minutes remaining in the last stanza. He rushed down the right wing, slammed on the brakes at the right circle and from the face-off
dot rifled a wrist shot into the net, with Patrick Dwyer getting the assist.
The Thrashers knotted the game at 3-3 with one and a half minutes left to play in the final frame. The goal came when Pavelec was pulled for an extra attacker and Bogosian won a right circle faceoff.
However, in overtime, Cole did it all on his own to seal victory. He started with the puck behind his own net, skated down the right side and from the top of the right circle he used the defender as a screen. Then he hammered a wrist shot between his legs
and into the left corner of the net to turn the game into a rout at 4-3.
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