Hurricanes edge Senators in double overtime after overturned goal, missed penalty shot in OT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes had finally beaten a red-hot goaltender for an overtime winner in the NHL playoffs, until a replay review overturned the score.

Amid the frustrated jeers of an infuriated home crowd, the Hurricanes now had to regroup and continue the grinding fight of a postseason game that appeared over only moments earlier. And that led to forward Jordan Martinook immediately standing at center ice with another chance to end it as he waited to take a penalty shot — a rarity in OT during the playoffs.

“Try having a penalty shot after all that,” Martinook quipped.

Nothing came easily Monday night for the Eastern Conference's top seed against the Ottawa Senators in a 3-2 double-overtime win that secured a 2-0 lead in their first-round series. That was particularly true of those gut-churning few minutes when the Hurricanes thought they had secured a victory, then learned they hadn't, then got an immediate second chance at a walk-off win, only for Martinook to be denied.

Martinook ultimately got his winner, beating Linus Ullmark from the slot at 13:53 of the second OT to finally end this one more than four hours after the puck dropped on Game 2.

“Hockey’s crazy, sports are crazy,” Martinook said. “Being able to score after that, I’ll tell my grandkids about that one, that’s for sure.”

Not that anyone around here will soon forget this one, not with the emotions — and fortunes — changing at whiplash speed.

“There's a lot there to unwind, that's for sure,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said.

The Hurricanes won the series opener 2-0 on Saturday, then found themselves up 2-0 in the second period Monday before giving up goals to Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens that eventually pushed the game into overtime. Ullmark had been brilliant all night on the way to 43 saves, one coming when he gloved down a hammered one-timer from Taylor Hall as the puck shifted cross-ice to his left side.

Another came in the final seconds of regulation when Ullmark got his left shoulder on Jordan Staal’s shot from the top of the crease.

That all became prologue to those few minutes when things got weird in Raleigh.

The Hurricanes appeared to break through late in the first OT, with Mark Jankowski skating in to pounce on a loose rebound and beat Ullmark on the left side with 2:42 left to send the home crowd into a frenzy. But officials reviewed the sequence and determined Staal didn’t have possession and control of the puck as he entered the zone, coming as Martinook skated through the middle across the blue line for a 1-on-1 chance on Ullmark.

“I don’t know that rule,” Staal said. “I pick up the puck, I look up where Marty is and apparently I lost control of it. And then I make a nice pass to Marty for a breakaway. I don’t really get it. … We battled through it. It is what it is.”

“It's a weird play, you don't see it a lot in overtime,” Senators coach Travis Green said, adding: “I felt like it was offside. I thought the refs made the right call.”

But that sequence ultimately led to a hooking penalty on Warren Foegele, meaning Martinook quickly had to pivot to taking the first OT penalty shot in a postseason game since August 2020 and only the fifth ever.

Martinook skated in on Ullmark and tried to beat him to the glove side, only for Ullmark to knock down the puck and ensure the game would continue.

Afterward, a reporter mentioned to Martinook that he had a chance to become the first player ever to end a playoff game on an OT penalty shot.

“Thanks for that,” Martinook said with a grin.

“I was trying to tell them we needed the power play, not the penalty shot,” Martinook said. “Yeah, I've never seen that. That's a first.”

The Hurricanes ultimately came out on top — after the Senators nearly got their own sudden-death winner in the second overtime when Michael Amadio got an in-close shot. Frederik Andersen made the stop with his glove to deflect the puck, which kept rising and hit the crossbar before bouncing away.

Roughly 2 1/2 minutes later, Martinook buried a shot past Ullmark to finally end this one.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Carolina Hurricanes' Andrei Svechnikov (37) checks Ottawa Senators' Thomas Chabot (72) into the boards during the second period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jaccob Slavin, left, checks Ottawa Senators' Brady Tkachuk (7) into the boards during the second overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jordan Martinook, second from right, celebrates after his winning overtime goal with Sean Walker (26), Taylor Hall (71) and K'andre Miller (19) following the second overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) has the shot of Ottawa Senators' Michael Amadio (22) go off the crossbar during the second overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi (32) congratulates goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) with William Carrier (28), following the second overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

LONDON (AP) — The ex-civil servant behind the decision to approve Peter Mandelson 's appointment as British ambassador to Washington says he felt political pressure to rush through the appointment despite security concerns.

Olly Robbins, former head of the Foreign Office, said those concerns did not relate to Mandelson's relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He declined to say when questioned by lawmakers what led the government's vetting agency to flag Mandelson as a potential security risk.

Robbins said the vetting agency considered Mandelson a “borderline case” and was “leaning toward recommending against” giving him security clearance.

The Foreign Office decided to clear him anyway. Robbins was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week over the decision. Starmer is facing questions about his own judgment, and calls to resign, over the appointment.

Robbins told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that there was an “atmosphere of pressure” coming from Starmer’s office.

He said there was “a very, very strong expectation” that Mandelson “needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible.”

Robbins said there was “a generally dismissive attitude” to the security vetting in January 2025, before Mandelson went to Washington.

Starmer acknowledged on Monday that he made the wrong judgment when he picked Mandelson for the job. But he said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d known about the security vetting.

Starmer has placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials, who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson’s appointment despite them.

He called it “frankly staggering” that officials didn’t tell him about the failed vetting, which took place in January 2025. Starmer says he only found out last week.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September, nine months into the job, when new details emerged about his friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

He has ordered a review into any security concerns arising from Mandelson’s access to sensitive information while ambassador.

Critics say the Mandelson appointment is more evidence of bad judgment by a prime minister who has made repeated missteps since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

He picked Mandelson as ambassador despite being warned by his staff that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein exposed the government to “reputational risk.”

Mandelson’s business links to Russia and China also set off alarm bells. But his expertise as a former European Union trade chief and contacts among global elites were considered assets in dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

The scandal has caused gloom among lawmakers in Starmer’s center-left Labour Party, already anxious about its dire poll ratings. Starmer already defused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers urged him to resign over the Mandelson appointment.

Mandelson is under police investigation for suspected misconduct in public office after a trove of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January included emails suggesting Mandelson had passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to Epstein in 2009, after the global financial crisis.

British police launched a criminal probe and arrested Mandelson in February. Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.

FILE - Olly Robbins walks on Whitehall in Westminster, London, Jan. 17, 2019. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP, File)

FILE - Olly Robbins walks on Whitehall in Westminster, London, Jan. 17, 2019. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP, File)

Peter Mandelson is seen with his dog outside his home in London, Monday, April 20, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a showdown in Parliament over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, April 20, 2026 to face a showdown in Parliament over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)