Carolina Hurricanes struggle in overtime, fall to Colorado Avalanche 4-3 -NHL Update
Carolina grabbed the lead early on in the Friday night contest, but failed to control their momentum as the Hurricanes died down in overtime, losing to Colorado Avalanche 4-3, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, United States.
Colorado grabbed their second straight victory after downing the Chicago Blackhawks in a, 5-2, major disappointment earlier on Tuesday, putting them back on track to taking a playoff spot as they stand only two points from overtaking number eight with 59 at the 10th place.
Avalanche's goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere was widely outshot in comparison to his counterpart in the Carolina net, Cam Ward, facing 42 shots and blocking 39, while the latter faced 33 and diverted 29.
Tim Brent kicked off the scoring, putting Carolina ahead nearly midway through the opening period, while Colorado's rookie and the team's top draft pick of 2011, Gabriel Landeskog, made the equaliser with less than a minute remaining, for his 13th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
Hurricanes managed to grab the lead once again with Jiri Tlusty, grabbing his 12th 31 seconds later, forcing a fierce second period competition.
Colorado managed to keep their cool and played with strategic excellence as veteran forward, Milan Hejduk tied the game yet again and Paul Stastny managed to keep the score levelled after Eric Staal made the tie-breaker in the middle.
Carolina had a prime opportunity a little over halfway through the third period as David Jones of Colorado was booked for hooking, but Hurricanes failed to make the deciding shot, heading into overtime.
With two seconds remaining in the overtime decider, both Carolina and Colorado were getting ready to take it into a shootout, but Ryan O’Reilly was not prepared to let the opportunity to score go just yet as he took control of the puck on a turnaround, firing off the game-winner to take the surprising win.
Colorado has the next four on the road, starting off with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, while the Carolina Hurricanes will be playing against Montreal Canadiens on Monday, after a few days off to get their act straight.
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