RALEIGH, N.C. _ It's not every game you see an NHL goalie flattened by a right-hand punch.
It happened Thursday to Petr Mrazek of the Carolina Hurricanes. Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks was the aggressor, first taking a whack at the puck after Mrazek had smothered it in the crease, then punching Mrazek when Mrazek objected to it, smacking him in the mask and knocking him to the ice.
It was that kind of game, some good play mixed with some salty play, as the Hurricanes won 3-2 in a shootout at PNC Arena.
Andrei Svechnikov, who scored in the first minute of the game, had the only shootout goal to win it for Carolina (17-11-1).
In the overtime, the Canes' Dougie Hamilton hit the post with a shot and Sebastian Aho forced Sharks goalie Aaron Dell into a tough save. The Sharks' Logan Couture, who had scored in the second period, had a chance to end it against Mrazek.
Mrazek, 16-6 in his career in shootouts, denied Kevin Labanc, Erik Karlsson and then Couture in the shootout.
Before the shootout, Svechnikov had a goal and assist for the Canes, scoring 50 seconds into the game against Dell, and Jake Gardiner gave Carolina a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal in the second.
Gardiner also figured in the Sharks' first score in the first period. Caught out of position in the defensive zone, the Canes defenseman could not recover quickly enough as Marcus Sorensen took a pass from Thornton for an easy score.
Couture's ninth goal of the season, late in the second, pulled the Sharks (15-13-2) into a 2-2 tie.
The big dustup came with 7:10 left in the second period and the Canes leading 2-1. Thornton began jabbing at the puck, and Mrazek retaliated with a hard swipe of his stick in Thornton's direction that missed.
The two briefly faced off behind the net before Thornton suddenly decked Mrazek. The goalie initially appeared to have been injured but soon was back up and stayed in the game as the fans loudly chanted "Pe-tr, Pe-tr."
When order was restored, Thornton was penalized two minutes for roughing and two for slashing, and Mrazek was given a two-minute minor for slashing. That was a decision that was not well-received by Canes fans, who booed Thornton as he left the ice, booed him when he came out of the penalty box and booed him for the remainder of the game.
What hurt the Canes and Mrazek as much as the punch was the dagger of a shot by Couture. It came from the point with just 17 seconds left in the period and it tied the score 2-2.
Svechnikov scored his 12th of the season after Warren Foegele, who had two assists, out-battled defenseman Brett Burns for the puck in the left corner in the first minute of the game. Foegele got the puck to Svechnikov, who quickly lifted a backhander past Dell.
The Canes had been shut out in two of the past three games _ a 3-0 loss to Nashville and a 2-0 road loss to the Boston Bruins. Those games were sandwiched around perhaps the Canes' best win of the season, a 3-2 road victory over Tampa Bay.
The Sharks, beginning a four-game road trip, rolled into Raleigh off a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals but having won 11 of their past 14 and their past four road games.
Dell was making just his third start in the past 15 games and his first since Nov. 2. He was used in relief of Martin Jones in the loss to the Caps.
