Nikolaj Ehlers won’t soon forget his performance on Saturday evening in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
With his father, Heinz, watching from the stands, Ehlers scored his second goal of the game at 3:29 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win against the visiting Montreal Canadiens in Raleigh, N.C.
Ehlers scored from just above the right hash marks off the rush to even the best-of-7 series at 1-1 heading to Game 3 in Montreal on Monday.
“That was a special feeling to be able to do that,” Ehlers said in a postgame interview on TNT. “I’m never going to forget that one. …
‘”To be able to get that at home in front of these fans that show up every single game, I get goosebumps. I got goosebumps out there. I’m shaky.”
Carolina had lost 10 straight games on home ice in the conference finals round.
This game marked a dramatic shift from Tuesday’s Game 1, which Montreal led 4-1 just 11:32 into the game on the way to a comfortable 6-2 victory.
“We wanted to stay aggressive but do it in the right way,” Ehlers said. “We needed to be better on the forecheck. They were getting out of the zone way too easily. I think (Saturday), we did a better job of that. That’s something we talked about and were able to do. We’ve got to keep that going.”
Eric Robinson also scored and Frederik Andersen made 10 saves for Carolina, the No. 1 seed from the East, which swept its first two opponents in these playoffs.
Josh Anderson scored twice and Jakub Dobes made 23 saves for Montreal.
“We weren’t terrible,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We just weren’t as good as Game 1.”
Both teams scored on their first shots on goal nearly nine minutes apart in the first period.
Carolina forward William Carrier attempted a one-timer from above the hash marks but didn’t make solid contact. Robinson reached out with one hand as he skated through the slot and he redirected the puck to the side of Dobes and across the goal line for a 1-0 lead just 2:33 in.
The Canadiens went the first half of the opening period without a shot on goal before Kaiden Guhle stopped a clearing attempt at the Carolina blue line, passed it to Phillip Danault and he fed Anderson in the slot for a redirection that tied it 1-1 at 11:11.
The Hurricanes outshot Montreal 7-2 in the first period.
Carolina was outshooting the Canadiens 12-4 when Ehlers scored at 17:03 of the second period for a 2-1 lead.
Ehlers took possession of the puck as he crossed the red line with speed. He split between Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson and turned his back to the net before spinning back around at the left hash marks and shooting the puck between the pads of Dobes.
Anderson got to a loose puck in front of the crease and shot it under Andersen to tie it 2-2 at 12:51 of the third period.
“It was a pretty tight game and I just didn’t come up with a save, unfortunately, for the boys in OT,” Dobes said. “I have high expectations for myself, and feel like we could have won that game in OT. It’s just we didn’t get a second breath. It was over pretty quick.”
–Field Level Media
