Carolina Hurricanes Secure Key Overtime Victory Over Pittsburgh Penguins: 3 Takeaways

The Carolina Hurricanes pulled off a big win Sunday night, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime at Lenovo Center.Here are three takeaways from the game:

Related: 'That's The Guy We Need': Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jalen Chatfield, Rod Brind'Amour On Overtime Win Over Penguins

Penalty Kill Dominance

The Canes' PK was another huge part of the win last night, with them going a perfect three-for-three. Across those six minutes, the Canes allowed just three shots on goal and had two shots on goal themselves.

Usually teams will say that their netminders have to be the biggest penalty killers, but for Carolina, it was more so Seth Jarvis.

The feisty forward was all over the ice Sunday night and his hustle on a number of pucks shorthanded were key components in those kills.

None bigger than when he led a rush up ice himself after a forced turnover in the final minutes of a tied hockey game.

Jarvis has always played bigger than he is, but those kills especially showed how valuable and versatile he is as a player.

"Great penalty killing tonight," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "[Jarvis] was great tonight. All over it."

Add in Aho's hockey IQ, Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook's defensive acumen and physical checking skills and a team mantra for shot blocking and that forward group is just a complete nightmare to deal with on a man-advantage.

Not to mention a quick defense all with above average stick work.

"[Assistant Coach Tim Gleason] calls it 'Give an F,'" Jarvis said on the penalty kill's mentality. "I'm not going to say it, but you can imagine what that means. It just means caring a little more than them and outworking them and that's what most of my game is based off of. And I know how it feels on the other side when a PK is all over you and forechecking you, it makes it hard to get out of your zone. So to do that to them was big for momentum, especially in the second when me and Fishy started to get rolling a little bit. It was nice to see and just always good to make it tough on power plays, especially that one."

Since December, the Canes have allowed just three goals against in 39 times shorthanded (92.31%). They've also scored once shorthanded in that time frame.

Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis

Sunday's game was hands down the best game I've seen out of the pair of Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis this season.

The duo accounted for all four of the team's goals whether directly scoring them themselves or setting them up and they were just involved in all three zones.

Aho has been quiet for a majority of the season, but that was the franchise player we're more akin to seeing.

"The last little while here, he's been very noticeable," Brind'Amour said. "There was a stretch there where you were just like, 'Eh.' He'd been okay, but not necessarily impactful. You really notice him lately. Even when he's not scoring or not on the scoresheet, he's been around it. That's the guy we need and you generally see."

He dominated the faceoff circle, winning 81% of his draws matched up primarily against Sidney Crosby, and did it again in overtime, after which the Hurricanes never conceded the puck before he cashed in on the winner.

"I thought he was if not one of the best players out there, maybe the best player on the ice tonight," Brind'Amour said.

Jarvis, as I pointed out earlier, was just all over the ice. He's a speedy pest, that wins 50/50s and board battles at such a high clip that it's honestly impressive.

He's like a one-man wrecking crew on the forecheck but then you can also see just how good of hands he has on both of his goals.

More Power Play Struggles

The Canes had three chances on the man advantage last night and did not score a goal. In fact, they had just five shots on goal, two of which were from the main unit.

It's better than the night before where they had just one shot on goal in four attempts, but not really by much.

The top unit definitely misses Shayne Gostisbehere who's out with an upper-body injury. He just has a way of slowing the game down and finding lanes from the point and while Ty Smith hasn't been bad, it isn't quite the same.

It also isn't a surprise that the power play cooling off coincides with Martin Necas' fall back to Earth either. Since December, Necas has just three goals and 10 points and he hasn't scored against a netminder since Dec. 5.

PP1 has scored just two goals in their last 10 games and the Hurricanes overall are just 10.26% on the man advantage in their last 13 games.

For reference, they were clicking at 29.55% after their first 27 games.