RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Morgan Rielly scored 2:13 into overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs over the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Saturday night.
Rielly’s wrist shot past Cam Ward gave Toronto its third straight victory and moved them one point ahead of the New York Islanders for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Mitch Marner and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 36 saves.
Victor Rask and Teuvo Teravainen scored for Carolina, which has lost 11 of 15 games. Ward made 23 saves but couldn’t steer aside Rielly’s shot, which bounced off his left leg pad and angled into the back corner of the net.
The Hurricanes led twice but couldn’t hold it either time.
Rask opened the scoring when he corralled a rolling puck below the right faceoff dot and flipped it over Andersen’s left shoulder 8:59 into the first period.
The Maple Leafs evened the score less than a minute later when Marner connected on a one-timer with a hard wrist shot from the right faceoff circle that zipped past Ward.
Carolina retook the lead in the second period, but Toronto charged back quickly.
Teravainen scored 45 seconds into the second when his wrist shot from the point was accidentally deflected in by Rielly, but van Riemsdyk got even for Toronto when he sneaked a wrist shot over Ward’s blocker at the 7:37 mark.
That was all the scoring in regulation despite a fast-paced third period of frenzied shots and tough saves.
Rielly broke through in the extra session. The Toronto defenseman carried the puck behind the Hurricanes net and circled back around in between the faceoff circles, and his attempt on net found its way in off Ward’s pad.