Jordan Martinook made amends after an earlier overtime opportunity went awry by scoring with 6:07 remaining in the second OT, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Monday at Raleigh, N.C.
Martinook scored coming down the slot to end the game and send the Hurricanes to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“We did our job,” Martinook said. “We won our two at home, and now we go up there and they’re going to try to do the same.”
Logan Stankoven and Sebastian Aho scored the first two goals for Carolina. Frederik Andersen made 37 saves for the win.
Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens had Ottawa’s goals, with Jake Sanderson assisting on both tallies. Goalie Linus Ullmark seemed dialed in to steal a victory for Ottawa, making 43 saves.
“Linus kept us in it there, especially made some bit saves in the second period,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “And I really liked our game after that.”
The Hurricanes appeared to win it on a Mark Jankowski goal with 2:42 left in the first overtime, but an offside ruling after a video review negated the score and reset the clock to slightly more than three minutes. Yet Martinook was awarded a penalty shot as part of the sequence, with Ullmark making the stop to extend the game.
“I didn’t feel very good about myself after that penalty shot,” Martinook said. “The intermission felt really long. … It was going to be a long night if that penalty shot came back to bite me.”
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour added, “We make it exciting. That’s for sure.”
Game 3 is Thursday night in Ottawa.
“The first half of the game I felt like there had been a lot of talk about creating offense and we took a couple of chances that we usually don’t take and gave up more chances than we normally do,” Green said. “In overtime, I felt like we had a lot of looks to score.”
There were stretches, including in overtime, when Ullmark and Andersen seemed to take turns making game-saving stops. Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle nearly ended it in OT, but his shot bounced off the post.
Stankoven converted on the game’s first power play 6:31 into the game off a feed from Taylor Hall, who was stationed behind the net. Stankoven has scored the first goal in both games in the series. Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk was in the penalty box for roughing.
Aho’s first goal of the postseason came 7:50 into the second period in transition after he took a pass from Jordan Staal.
Ullmark’s recovery for a save on Hall’s blast prevented Carolina from taking a three-goal lead.
The Senators didn’t score for the first 90 minutes of the series, and then they notched two goals in less than a six-minute stretch.
Batherson scored by shoveling the puck into the net after a deflection ended back near his stick on the left side of the net.
Cozens pulled the Senators even with 3:20 to play in the second period.
The pace was much accelerated from Game 1, with the Hurricanes holding a 28-16 edge in shots through two periods. The Senators outshot Carolina 8-5 in the scoreless third, which was played without a penalty called.
–Field Level Media
