The fourth line for the Hurricanes were arguably the best on the ice, the team as a whole looked like the team that had gone 8-0 in the playoffs before Game One, and Nikolaj Ehlers put his stamp on the game with one of the most beautiful goals you’ll ever see and then one of the most important goals in franchise history as Carolina staved off Montreal to take Game Two 3-2 in Overtime.
The Hurricanes established from the beginning that they had learned their lessons from Thursday Night, as the team was on top of Montreal from the jump. It looked like the Hurricanes team we had seen all postseason with a tight forecheck, the opponent unable to really get settled into the zone, and multiple chances on net. The work was quickly rewarded as the fourth line produced the first score. The play started with Mark Jankowski digging the puck off the wall and feeding a pass to William Carrier. Carrier shot the puck on net and on its way, Eric Robinson stuck his stick out to change the path, deflecting it past Jakub Dobeš and putting Carolina up 1-0
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Carolina continued to dominate play until a sequence changed the tenor of the period. Dobeš would push the net off its post, causing play to stop. No penalty was called but replays in the arena showed the only reason it came off was Dobeš. Montreal would get possesion of the ensuing face off, and while trying to set up in the zone Logan Stankoven would be called for interference on Kaiden Guhle. Carolina killed the penalty, but a few moments after Taylor Hall tried a poor outlet pass to the neutral zone. It was intercepted by Guhle, and Montreal had the opening to rush the net. Josh Anderson would get it past Frederick Andersen and the score was tied. Carolina would later get a power play that was ended early thanks to a boarding call on Andrei Svechnikov. The Hurricanes were able to stand tall and got to the locker room tied 1-1.
The second period was mostly a back and forth affair, with both teams getting extended looks in the offensive zone and the defenses plus goalies coming up big. The Canes would get a power play when Dobeš was called for an interference, but it didn’t result in any really good looks. It appeared the period would end tied until Nikolaj Ehlers just pulled off one of the most amazing one-man goal moves to cause the Lenovo Center to explode and put the Canes up 2-1.
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The period would end with Carolina almost giving up the lead again but Svechnikov made a great defensive play to break it up, and Andersen would move the puck out. In the process Alexandre Texier hit K’Andre Miller with his stick crumpling him to the ice. The officials called a major to look at it, but it was reduced to a two minute penalty on review, despite pretty universal agreement that Texier speared Miller and should have not only gotten the five minutes but a Game Misconduct.
Carolina was unable to convert on the two minute man advantage, and while they had several opportunities they weren’t able to finish around Dobeš. That work was enough to where Montreal started to take control in the back half of the period, leading to the tying goal on a scrum in front of Andersen. Several Hurricanes were in front of the net, but Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis were unable to clear the puck fully, and as Aho essentially knocked Andersen off balance, the puck ended up on Josh Andersen’s stick. He was able to push it by the goalie to knot the score at two with 7:09 left. Both teams would have other chances, but for the third straight series, the Hurricanes would go to overtime in Game 2.
That’s when Ehlers put in his second signature moment. The overtime basically started like the Philadelphia Game Four overtime where the Canes established control and Montreal just wasn’t able to get anything going. Then just a little over three minutes in, Jalen Chatfield intercepted an attempt by Kapanen to get into the zone. The puck had just passed the Hurricanes bench when Ehlers hopped on the ice, and Chatfield pushed the puck to center ice. Mark Jankowski completed a nice touch pass to the streaking Ehlers who saw what was happening. He easily beat Dobeš to blow the roof off of Lenovo Center and give the Canes the 3-2 win.
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Thanks to Cory Lavalette for pointing out, it was Ehlers’ second ever overtime playoff goal. The first came against Edmonton in the 2021 First Round.
After the game, Ehlers was clearly still trying to soak in what he did and the weight of what had just been accomplished.
The play of the whole Ehlers line was key to the win, as they were paired up with the monster Suzuki line, and held them completely in check. Rod talked about that, as well as the work done by the rest of the team on the off day, and had some thoughts on the lack of a call at the end of the second when I asked him.
That is what I get for trying to be delicate in asking about a spear to the groin.
Carolina will practice at the Lenovo Center on Sunday before heading out to Montreal. Game three of the best of seven will be Monday Night at 8 PM.
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