RALEIGH — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said before Game 2 that his team hadn’t yet faced adversity this postseason.
Now they have — and they passed the test with flying colors.
Taylor Hall drove the net and scored with 66 seconds left in the first overtime as Carolina erased a two-goal deficit and beat the visiting Flyers 3-2 in Monday’s Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead.
“We don’t quit,” Hurricanes winger Nikolaj Ehlers said.
Despite getting outshot 15-8 in overtime, the Hurricanes — as they did in the first round against Ottawa — held serve at home with an overtime win in the second game of the series.
Defenseman Sean Walker picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and carried it all the way into the Flyers’ end. He dropped the puck off to Hall, who drove the net and shot on Philadelphia goalie Dan Vladar (40 saves). Jackson Blake took a swipe at the rebound, and Hall located the puck and pushed it past defenseman Travis Sanheim and into the net for the win.
“When you score in overtime it seems like parts of your memory kind of go,” Hall said while trying to recap the goal. “It was a gritty goal. I didn’t do a very good job of attacking tonight personally. So I got that puck and I just wanted to get to the middle of the ice as much as I could, and I got a shot off and got the rebound. That was an overtime goal, for sure.”
It was Hall’s third goal and team-leading ninth point of the postseason. And the game may not have reached overtime if not for Hall — in the defensive zone.
With 8 seconds left in regulation, Hall made a key block on Flyers forward Noah Cates to keep the game tied and force overtime.
“He wants to win,” Brind’Amour said. “So he’s doing whatever he has to do to help the team. And he’s doing it, in that situation obviously, at both ends of the rink. And winning it for us too. He’s been just a great player for us.”
Brind’Amour and his coaching staff deserve credit as well. With his top line of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov still searching for their first goal together this postseason, Brind’Amour flipped his lines in the middle of the third period with Carolina trailing by a goal. Jarvis joined Ehlers and Jordan Staal, and the results were immediate.
Ehlers, who scored Carolina’s first period power play goal, received the puck in the neutral zone and pushed back the Flyers defense. He dropped the puck to Jarvis at the top of the right circle, and Jarvis snapped a shot past the glove of Vladar to tie the game at 11:21 of the third period.
“(Assistant coach) Jeff Daniels, who helps me with the forward group — does such a good job — and he’s just like, ‘It’s time.’ And literally, the first shift we did it, that’s what happened. So I’ve got to give him all the credit there for tapping me and saying, ‘OK, look, we waited long enough.’ And it paid dividends. It doesn’t always work that way, but it did tonight.”
The goal was Jarvis’ first of the postseason.
“It’s always nice to see one go in, especially (since) I’ve had chances and haven’t been doing it, so to step up in a moment like that was huge,” Jarvis said. “The line shuffling, I mean, it seems like every time when I’m with (Staal), stuff starts to go in. So hopefully that kick starts the rest of my playoffs.”
The Hurricanes were forced to play from behind for the first time this postseason after the Flyers scored twice in 39 seconds in the opening five minutes of the game to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Philadelphia’s league-worst power play converted on its first chance of the night. With Walker in the penalty box for a delay-of-game penalty, Jamie Drysdale jumped on a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Frederik Andersen (34 saves) to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead at 4:02 of the first period.
The lead doubled on the next shift.
After Carolina failed to get a clear in the defensive zone, Flyers captain Sean Couturier scored right in the goal mouth to extend the lead to 2-0 at 4:41 of the opening period.
The Hurricanes, however, responded, halving the lead thanks to their power play and a failed clear by the Flyers.
Philadelphia defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen hesitated in shooting the puck down the ice on the penalty kill, allowing Carolina to stay in the zone. Blake then made a circle-to-circle pass to Ehlers, whose one-timer beat Vladar at 10:21 of the first period for his first playoff goal in a Hurricanes uniform to make it 2-1.
“You want to get one right back, and we were able to do that,” Ehlers said. “After that, it’s a one-goal lead.”
And Andersen — who has not allowed more than two goals in his six postseason starts — stopped the last 33 shots he faced.
“That’s just a testament to the type of person he is and the player he is,” defenseman K’Andre Miller said of Andersen. “He’s been doing a great job obviously this entire playoffs. You’re going to have a mess up every once in a while, but I think it’s just a matter of turning the page and getting back to your game.”
And in overtime, Carolina’s best line in the playoffs — Hall, Blake and Logan Stankoven — again came through.
“Every night, it feels like they’re cashing in and being a big part of our group,” Walker said. “To see (Hall) get rewarded, I’m not surprised. They’ve been great all year, but especially in the playoffs.”
Notes: Carolina won 44 of 73 faceoffs. … Hurricanes forward William Carrier had 12 hits. … Sanheim had five blocks. … Carolina forward Andrei Svechnikov took three minor penalties. …Forwards Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nicolas Deslauriers, and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov were healthy scratches. Alexander Nikishin (concussion) did not dress.
