The Carolina Hurricanes extended their overtime dominance and now they are two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Andrei Svechnikov scored the game winner in overtime as Carolina defeated Montreal 3-2 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on Monday night in Montreal.

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Carolina, which is now 10-1 in the postseason, leads the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is Wednesday in Montreal.

Sebastian Aho was in front of Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes when Svechnikov’s blast from the point found its way into the net. Aho was originally credited with the goal, but he said after the game he wasn’t sure if it hit off him or not. 

Carolina improved to 5-0 in overtime in the postseason. It has won all five games 3-2. It was the second straight overtime win in this series.

"It should be hard this time of year," Aho said on TNT after the game. "There's two really good teams going at it. Just stick with the process and play our game. Trust it'll give us the result we want at the end and that's been the case the last two games." 

The game played out like Game 2 with the Hurricanes taking 1-0 and 2-1 leads. The Hurricanes never trailed. Carolina outshot Montreal 12-2 in the third period and overtime, seeming to wear down the home team.

"We had a plan,” Carolina’s Taylor Hall said. “We stuck with it the whole game. We played a lot in their end. We forced them to defend, ice the puck, and roll our lines over. In the end, it worked out.” 

For the third straight game, the Hurricanes earned an early lead. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored with 11:36 left in the first period to open the scoring. Carolina dominated play in the first half of the period before Gostisbehere found the back of the net from the right slot when a shot by Mark Jankowski hit off a skate and popped right to a wide open Gostisbehere.

It was his first goal of the postseason. Jankowski and Eric Robinson had assists.

For the third straight game, the Canadiens answered in the first period. Mike Matheson scored off a slap shot from the top of the left circle that beat Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen high to the glove side off a pass from Ivan Demidov.

“We had the one mistake, and they made us pay,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said between periods on TNT.

But the Canes took the lead right back less than a minute later. K’Andre Miller found Hall in front of the Montreal net on a backhand pass and Hall banged home his own rebound for a 2-1 edge. Hall, a former No. 1 overall pick and league MVP, has four goals in the postseason. Miller picked up his seventh assist of the playoffs, and Jackson Blake had the other assist, his eight of the postseason on the goal.

Montreal converted on a power play in the second period to tie the game at 2. Carolina had killed off 19 consecutive power plays, but couldn’t stop a nifty give-and-go between Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, who scored the equalizer. Carolina’s Jordan Martinook was called for a slash in the offensive zone, one that he and Brind’Amour disagreed with.

A go-ahead goal by Montreal, which deflected off the stick of a sliding Nikolaj Ehlers, was wiped out when the Hurricanes successfully challenged the play for offsides with 12:01 left in the third period.

Andersen, starting his 11th consecutive game, had to make just 11 saves, but several were big stops, including attempts by Juraj Slafkovsky and Caufield back to back late in the second period.

“We’re very confident in the group we’ve got here,” Svechnikov told Sportsnet after the game. “Everyone knows what kind of role they’ve got, and Freddie is playing amazing. We just got to continue doing that and stick with our plans for the games.”

It was Brind’Amour’s 100th postseason game with the Hurricanes since becoming head coach in 2018-19. Aho and captain Jordan Staal have played in all 100. Carolina is 57-43 in those games.

The Hurricanes earned a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2 to even the series after a terrible Game 1 performance in Montreal’s 6-2 win.