Toronto Maple Leafs right winger William Nylander, left, scores on Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov during their NHL game in Toronto on Saturday, March 16, 2024.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Jake Guentzel scored the only goal of the shootout to go along with two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes came back from a 4-2 deficit late in regulation to down the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Saturday.
Sebastian Aho, with two goals and an assist, Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scored in regulation for Carolina (41-20-6). Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 36 shots.
John Tavares, with a goal and an assist, William Nylander, Nick Robertson and David Kampf replied for Toronto (38-19-9). Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves. Morgan Rielly had two assists.
Hurricanes defenceman Brent Burns, who also chipped in two assists, skated in the 1,400th regular-season game of his career. The 39-year-old is just the 42nd player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
The Leafs played without Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) and fellow forward Calle Jarnkrok (hand injury). The Hurricanes played without winger Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury).
With his team down 4-2 late in the third period, Aho scored a power-play goal, his 26th, with Kochetkov on the bench for an extra attacker with 92 seconds left in regulation.
Aho then tied it with 5.8 seconds remaining and the team playing 6-on-5 to force OT.
The teams traded chances in the extra period, including a Toronto power play, but couldn’t decide things through 65 minutes.
Guentzel then won it in the third round of the shootout with a shot through Samsonov’s pads.
Carolina, which lost in last year’s Eastern Conference final to the Florida Panthers, made some big moves ahead of last week’s trade deadline, adding Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov, while Toronto went with some depth additions.
Sporting their white and green St. Patrick’s Day jerseys, the Leafs opened the scoring at 4:47 of the second period when Tavares snapped a shot under the crossbar on a breakaway for his 21st goal of the season.
Nylander doubled the lead at 6:27 as he roofed his 36th on another break before Robertson – in the lineup for the first time since Feb. 29 – took a pass from Tavares in tight and buried his ninth upstairs for a 3-0 lead.
Martinook got the visitors on the board when he scored his 12th on a rebound at 13:27.
Jarvis added another with 2.7 seconds left on the clock when he scored his 22nd for a 3-2 deficit through 40 minutes.
Toronto defenceman Joel Edmundson cleared a puck out of his crease and Carolina defenceman Jalen Chatfield hit the post early in the third before Kampf made it 4-2 on another breakaway when he scored his sixth through Kochetkov’s five-hole at 2:55.
Samsonov had fans chanting his name later in the period following a short-handed glove stop on Jesper Fast before Aho pushed back.
Samsonov left Saturday’s morning skate in apparent discomfort, but Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe put any fears to rest when he playfully opened his pre-game media availability with: “Sammy’s fine. He’ll play tonight. Leave me alone.”
One of three puck-stoppers on Carolina’s roster, former Toronto netminder Frederik Andersen returned to action last week after recovering from a blood-clotting issue that sidelined him since November.
The 34-year-old has won his first three starts back, including Thursday’s 21-save shutout of Florida, but didn’t dress Saturday.
“I was in really good hands,” Andersen said of his time away. “Just getting me to a point where I was really comfortable.”
Marner missed a third straight game, but has resumed skating. Jarnkrok got hurt in Thursday’s 6-2 victory in Philadelphia and is considered week-to-week.
Acquired from Washington after spending a chunk of the season in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program before passing through waivers, Kuznetsov broke out his familiar celebration – known as the “The Bird” – after scoring his first Carolina goal Thursday.
Head coach Rod Brind'Amour joked in the locker room post-game he wasn’t a fan of the 31-year-old’s arm flapping until this week.
“I’m pretty sure it bothers a lot of people,” Kuznetsov said with a laugh Saturday. “I don’t try to make people angry … it’s just for kids and people that have been asking me.”