Florida Panthers win Game 2 in OT, return to Sunrise with 2-0 lead

Less than 48 hours after playing the sixth-longest game in NHL history, the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers were back on the ice in Raleigh for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

As it did in Game 1, this contest went to overtime. Unlike Thursday’s game, tonight they only needed one over time – where the Panthers won 2-1. Once again off of the stick of Matthew Tkachuk.

For the second straight game, Carolina took the first lead of the game. 

Just 1:43 into the first, Sebastian Aho layed a shot from near the boards towards the front of the Panthers’ goal. Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield, who jumped up in the rush, redirected the Aho shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.

After Carolina opened the scoring on their first shot of the game, the Panthers appeared to have tied it. 

Gustav Forsling walked in from the point before wiring a redirected shot past Anti Raanta to get the Panthers on the board.

However, this Panthers goal would quickly be removed after Carolina’s challenge for offsides on the zone entry proved to be correct.  

After the overturned Panthers goal, the Canes stepped on the gas. 

For nearly the entire first period, it was Carolina’s game. At the halfway mark of the period, the shots on goal were 13-1 in favor of the Hurricanes. 

If matters couldn’t get worse for the Panthers, Carolina looked like they had taken a two-goal lead in the first.

But as Rod Brind’Amour did earlier in the game, Paul Maurice challenged the play for offsides. 

Florida’s challenge was successful, wiping Jack Drury’s goal off the board. The Canesead was still one. 

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Trailing by one goal heading into the second, the Panthers pulled a repeat of Game 1 —  getting on  as the board with a goal. 

The Barkov line has been outstanding this postseason at getting the Cats back into games, and oddly enough, it’s happened quite often in the second period. 

7:43 into the second, Florida’s captain put himself on the highlight reel. Coming down alone on Raanta, Barkov faked a between the legs shot before pulling the puck to his backhand, beating the Canes’ goalie to tie it at 1-1. 

Barkov’s goal would be the only one scored in the period. The teams went to the break tied. 

An early storyline in this has been the desire of these two teams to play more hockey than required… ok not really but for a second straight game, regulation would not be enough in Raleigh. 

After a 4 OT thriller on Thursday, the Canes and Panthers went to overtime again, and luckily for everyone this OT lasted only minutes. 

Matthew Tkachuk sent the Panthers to the hotel up 1-0 in the series after Game 1. Tonight he sent the Cats back to Sunrise with a 2-0 series lead. 

1:51 into OT with the Panthers on the powerplay, the Cats executed a tic-tac-toe play with Tkachuk putting away the winner. This was Florida’s first goal on the power play in the series, and it couldn’t come at a better time. 

After taking both games on the road, the Panthers head back home for Games 3 & 4. This is the first time in 27 years that Panthers’ fans can see their team play in the Conference Finals at home.

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