Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark knocks the puck away on a penalty shot by the Carolina Hurricanes' Jordan Martinook in overtime of Game 2 of their NHL Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday. (AP photo)

No game in the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs has ever ended with a goal on a penalty shot in overtime and Carolina’s Jordan Martinook was not eager to make history.

He and the Hurricanes thought they’d won Game 2 of their first-round series against Ottawa when teammate Mark Jankowski scored, but a league-initiated challenge ruled the play to be offside, took the goal off the board and rewound the clock. The very next shift, Martinook was hooked by Senators forward Warren Foegele on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot.

“I was trying to tell (the referee) we needed the power play, not the penalty shot,” Martinook said. He got turned aside by Linus Ullmark, then scored the winner in double overtime.

Through Thursday, there have been four penalty shots already in these playoffs — more through 21 games than the previous three years’ worth combined, including zero in 2025 — and the goaltenders have saved all four.

Two more penalty shots would tie the record for the most in a single postseason. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for the uptick in refs calling for penalty shots over power plays, but there is no doubt it has added rare and must-see entertainment to a compelling first round.

“Everything’s very circumstantial,” Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon said after denying Boston’s Viktor Arvidsson in Game 3 on Thursday night. He’s not sure if he’d rather face the 1-on-1 matchup or endure a 2-minute penalty kill.

“To be honest with you, every player in this league has the ability to score on penalty shots,” Lyon said. “So yeah, I guess it’s just more circumstantial, but I don’t really have a definitive answer one way or the other.”

Lyon stopped Arvidsson, Ullmark stopped Martinook, Philadelphia’s Owen Tippett missed the net against Pittsburgh’s Stuart Skinner, and Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood made such a highlight-reel save on Los Angeles’ Quinton Byfield that jubilant fans in Denver broke the glass behind the Kings’ bench.

“Never really seen the glass shatter behind the bench,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said following a repair process that delayed the game more than 15 minutes. “That’s a different one. Stuff happens. Fans get excited. Our guys were excited.”

Is more grabbing going on during play? More breakaways in a league that has increased the emphasis on offense in recent years? Both could be true.

These are potentially game-changing moments and add even more pressure to a playoff game. Martinook, 33, described his experience as being the big guy on one end of a teeter-totter, acknowledging he didn’t feel good about himself after not scoring on his opportunity.

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AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen in Boston; Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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