“I was on such a high there for two minutes.”
After a tense, back-and-forth thriller, the Carolina Hurricanes scored the overtime game winner in Game 2 of their first-round series on a delayed penalty, as Mark Jankowski jumped over the boards as an extra skater and banged home a rebound past Linus Ullmark.
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At least, that’s what the team thought had happened.
As the team mobbed around Jankowski, the on-ice officials started to gather around the penalty box and the Ottawa Senators weren’t leaving the bench either.
Soon enough, it became clear to the nearly 20,000 attendees at Lenovo Center’s Monday night game that the goal was under review.
After five minutes of deliberation, official Furman South broke from the huddle and took to center ice.
He flipped on his microphone and, much to the dismay of the home crowd, announced that the play had originally been offside 30 seconds earlier and that the goal was being rescinded.
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The NHL situation room had deemed that while Jordan Staal had possession of the puck as he crossed the blueline, he did not have full control of puck, thereby making the play offside.
“I pick up the puck, I look up where Marty is and apparently I lost control of it,” Staal said. “And then I make a nice pass to Marty for a breakaway… I don’t really get it. To call back an overtime goal for that is…”
However, it wasn’t all for naught, as Jordan Martinook was to be awarded a penalty shot for the call he had initially drawn, just the fifth time ever in NHL history that one had been awarded in overtime of a playoff game.
As “Rockstar” by Nickelback blared across the speakers, Martinook composed himself at the opposite blueline, waiting for the official’s signal.
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Once he got it, he collected the puck, cut to the left, cut back to the middle and snapped one glove-side on Ullmark.
But it wasn’t to be, as the big Swede stymied the Hurricanes alternate captain, keeping the game alive.
“I felt pretty bad when I didn’t score that one,” Martinook said. “I was trying to tell them we needed the power play and not the penalty shot.”
Fate has a funny way of showing itself though and after nearly another full overtime period, Martinook would once again be given the chance to end it and this time, he delivered.
“I’d be lying if I said I picked my head up and looked and picked the corner,” Martinook said. “At that point, you’re just trying top put as many pucks on net as you can. I felt we kind of had them on the run a little bit and Fly made a great play in the middle and I just got it and ripped it. Luckily it went in.”
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From the terrible low of thinking you may have just cost your team to the jubilant highs of your first ever playoff overtime goal.
“I didn’t feel very good about myself after that penalty shot,” Martinook said. “The intermission felt really long and it was going to be a long night if that penalty shot came back to bite me. That was cool though. I’m happy it worked out that way. Hockey’s crazy. Sport’s are crazy. Being able to score after that, I’ll tell my grandkids about that one, that’s for sure.”
“You couldn’t have written it any better,” Staal said. “What a shot. The place was electric, so it was super fun. Definitely in the memory bank.”
“Just happy for Marty,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s nice to see him get that recognition for a game like that.
Game 2 of the Carolina Hurricanes’ first-round series against the Ottawa Senators couldn’t have been more different than Game 1.
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After a tight, but straight forward 2-0 shutout, the Canes and Sens flipped the script en route to a double overtime thriller.
In Game 1, the two teams combined for two goals, 51 shots on goal and 114 shot attempts.
In Game 2, both teams found themselves all of a sudden with a lot more space and a lot more time as the final counts were five total goals, 85 shots on goal and 208 shot attempts.
The trio of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Taylor Hall were once again doing their thing — as the three combined for the Canes’ first goal on the power play, with Stankoven notching his second of the postseason — and even Sebastian Aho got involved too as he scored off of a nice rush play set up by Staal.
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But the tale of the tape for this game was the outstanding performances put on by both netminders.
Frederik Andersen had a little hiccup on the game-tying goal as a Dylan Cozens shot from well outside the circles and from a bad angle beat him five-hole, but outside of that he was tremendous.
“You’re gonna make mistakes,” Andersen said. “Everyone does. But it’s about what’s next. Obviously we had to play a lot going forward. Just refocused and get ready for the next one.”
Andersen would stop all 15 of the shots he faced in overtime, including multiple in-tight and in-alone looks, and was credited with 2.67 goals saved above expected for the game according to Natural Stat Trick.
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On the other side, Linus Ullmark was sensational too, stopping 43 total shots and saving 2.24 goals above expected.
In fact, it was Ullmark’s save on Taylor Hall in the second period that was really the turning point of the game for Ottawa.
If Hall scores there, Carolina goes up 3-0 and probably easily wins in regulation.
Instead, the Senators were given life and they scored their first goal just 1:14 after the miraculous save as Drake Batherson got a fortunate bounce.
The Sens would keep pushing from there and eventually tie the game, but Andersen wasn’t going to be beat again, setting the stage for Martinook’s thrilling goal.
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“Every moment matters, and any situation, it’s right then and there,” Andersen said. “You just prepare like you would any other shot and every time you make a save, you give the boys a new chance to score.”
The Hurricanes will now take their 2-0 series lead onto the road as they head to Ottawa to try and steal a game.
‘Hockey’s Crazy’: Jordan Martinook, Logan Stankoven, Frederik Andersen, Jordan Staal, Rod Brind’Amour On Game 2 OT Win
‘Hockey’s Crazy’: Jordan Martinook, Logan Stankoven, Frederik Andersen, Jordan Staal, Rod Brind’Amour On Game 2 OT Win Staal, Martinook, Stankoven, Andersen, and Brind’Amour break down the wild Game 2 overtime thriller. Hear their candid reactions.
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