RALEIGH, N.C. — The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes didn’t leave PNC Arena until close to 3 a.m. on Friday, and finally, after skipping practices later in the day and holding optional morning skates Saturday, they returned to the scene of the sixth longest game in NHL history all of about 40 hours later for the second game of the Eastern Conference finals.
This time, they had a short night: All the Panthers needed was 1:51 of one overtime to for Matthew Tkachuk to beat the Hurricanes, 2-1, and take a commanding 2-0 series lead. They were out of there by midnight.
Florida has now won nine of 10 since dropping three of four to start Round 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, and six of those victories have come in overtime. They’ve now played 10 overtimes in their last 10 games and won every one of those extra-long games. It has them two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996 — only the franchise’s third season of existence — and now the Panthers get to come home to Sunrise for a pair of games next week.
The win was also their sixth come-from-behind victory in the last 10 games. Long before Florida and Carolina played an extra period in Game 2, the Hurricanes pounced on the Panthers with a goal in the first two minutes, forcing Florida to rally. All-Star center Aleksander Barkov scored a spectacular goal off a fake through-the-legs move in the second period and star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky handled the rest. The Hurricanes didn’t score for the final hour in Raleigh after they also failed to score for the final 97 minutes in Game 1.
Bobrovsky finished with 37 saves on 38 shots, and stopped the last 35 he faced.
The comeback in Game 2 came courtesy of Barkov and Tkachuk, but really Bobrovsky and Florida’s ability to get out of the first period within striking distance. After 10 minutes and one power play for each side, Carolina was outshooting Florida 15-1, and yet the Panthers only trailed 1-0. By the end of the first period, they had settled in — shots were 20-11 then — and their 1-0 deficit, thanks to 19 first-period saves by Bobrovsky, was gone by the midpoint of the second.
Although the Hurricanes were far better than the Florida in the regular season and even more dominant than the Panthers in the first two rounds of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Florida’s one clear edge is its top-end scoring talent. Both Barkov and superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk averaged at least a point per game in the regular season, and Carolina, with All-Star left wing Andrei Svechnikov out for the season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, didn’t have a single player even reach 75 points. The Panthers’ game-tying goal came via one moment of brilliance from one of their All-Star centers — a move Hockey Hall of Fame center Wayne Gretzky called “one of the greatest moves I’ve seen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs” during the ensuing NHL on TNT intermission report.
After an aggressive forecheck led to a failed clear for the Hurricanes, Barkov slipped behind the defense and cut to the net from the left side of the ice, and defenseman Josh Mahura picked him out. All alone along the crease, the All-Star center faked a through-the-legs move, pulled the puck back in front of him and flipped a backhand shot past Antti Raanta after the Carolina goaltender bought the fake to tie the game at 1-1 with 12:17 left in the period.
Raanta, who got the starting nod in place of Frederik Andersen after the star goaltender played all seven periods of Game 1, was good, making 24 saves on 26 shots. Bobrovsky, who started again even though he played all seven periods of Game 1, was better.
Tkachuk, who scored with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime of Game 1, sent everyone home quickly. After an 0-for-5 start on the power play in the series, Florida strung together a perfect passing play and the superstar right wing gave the Panthers another win.
