RALEIGH, N.C. _ Curtis McElhinney was a 20-game winner for the Carolina Hurricanes last season. On Sunday, the goalie wanted to hand them their first loss of this season.
But the Canes wouldn't oblige. Not this group. Jaccob Slavin's goal at 1:53 of overtime gave the Canes, and goalie Petr Mrazek, a winner over Tampa Bay and McEhinney.
For the third straight game, the Canes trailed in the third period. For the third straight game, they tied the score, this time on Dougie Hamilton's power-play strike that made it a 3-3 game. For a third straight game, it went to overtime.
The Canes went on a power play with 44.7 seconds left in regulation when Nino Niederreiter drew an interference penalty from Tampa Bay's Kevin Shattenkirk. The power-play time extended into overtime, with the Canes having a four-on-three advantage, but Tampa Bay killed it off.
It was soon back to three-on-three and Slavin beat McElhinney, who signed as a free agent with the Lightning in July.
The Canes rallied to win its first two games, beating the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout in the opener at PNC Arena and then fighting back Saturday on the road against the Washington Capitals. The Canes trailed the Caps 2-0 at Capital One Arena but won in overtime 3-2.
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said the Canes could not have made the playoffs last season without McElhinney, claimed off waivers by Carolina just before the 2018-19 season began.
"He was huge," Brind'Amour said a few hours before Sunday's game. "He came at the right time (and) was a huge part of it."
Brind'Amour added, "Hopefully he'll have one of the only bad games I've seen him play."
McElhinney was terrific in the first and solid enough through the first two periods as the Lightning led. But Hamilton's power-play goal, on a blast, tied the score 3-3.
Tyler Johnson, Shattenkirk and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning in the first period as Tampa Bay took a 3-1 lead. But the Lightning were held without a shot in the second period as the Canes, with Petr Mrazek in net, clawed back into the game.
Brett Pesce scored for the Canes in the first period on a shot that hit a Tampa Bay defender, and Erik Haula _ that man again _ scored on a second-period power play.
Haula now has three goals in his first three games with the Hurricanes. He's the sixth player in franchise history to score in each of his first three games and first since Eric Staal in 2005-06.
Then, Hamilton in the third, his first goal of the season.
The Canes killed off all six penalties in the win over the Caps. But Shattenkirk winged a shot through traffic that got past Mrazek in the first.
Pesce scored his first of the season 1:14 into the game. But McElhinney was rock solid the rest of the period, turning back tough shots by Warren Foegele, Niederreiter and Haula.
In the second, the Canes broke through on a power play as Haula again got in front of the crease, banging in the rebound of a Dougie Hamilton shot. That pulled the Canes within 3-2.
Anyone looking at the analytics _ but not the score _ would have been surprised if not stunned after the first and second periods.
Consider that the Canes had 36 total shot attempts to Tampa Bay's 18 in the first, and 16 scoring chances to the Lightning's eight. In the second period, the Lightning did not have a shot on goal.
It was the first time the Canes had held a team without a shot in the period since February 2004, in a game against Colorado.
Yet the Lightning led 3-1 after 20 minutes and 3-2 after 40.
It hurt the Canes that they had 11 giveaways in the opening period. They also had eight shot attempts blocked and missed the net on another 11 attempts.
Both teams were playing their third game in four days and completing a back-to-back. Tampa Bay had split its first two games, both against the Florida Panthers, losing 4-3 on Saturday.
