Hall’s OT score helps Hurricanes top Flyers 3-2 to take 2-0 lead in 2nd-round series of NHL playoffs

The series shifts to Philadelphia for Thursday’s Game 3.

Seth Jarvis had the third-period goal that forced overtime for Carolina, while Nikolaj Ehlers also scored. Frederik Andersen finished with 34 saves to help the Hurricanes improve to 6-0 in the postseason.

Still, this one was anything but easy compared to the smothering first-period that paved the way to a 3-0 win in Monday’s Game 1. Flyers coach Rick Tocchet had talked about the need for his players to react quicker against Carolina’s aggression and speed, and carry the puck more into the tough areas of the ice.

The Flyers did that early, with Jamie Drysdale and Sean Couturier scoring in a 39-second span of the first period for the Flyers. And they outshot Carolina 15-8 in the overtime in a much more assertive showing, but the Flyers couldn’t beat Andersen again after that flurry in the first 5 minutes.

Vladar had 40 saves, including twice stopping Carolina’s Eric Robinson on second-period breakaways. He also got a timely bit of help in that period from Travis Sanheim, who cleared a loose puck that had slipped behind Vladar in the crease to deny Carolina a tying score.

Tocchet felt more energy from his Flyers — in their first postseason since 2020 — in the aftermath of the Game 1 loss.

“I thought the young guys competed,” he said. “I’m really proud of these guys. They just made the play at the end, that’s it.”

Ehlers’ one-timer on the power play got Carolina on the board in the first. Then Ehlers fed a trailing Jarvis to beat Vladar from the right side midway through the third period, ultimately forcing OT.

It was a penalty-filled night with the teams combining to go 2 for 13 with the man advantage, which derailed either team from getting in much of a 5-on-5 rhythm and leaving Vladar and Andersen to come up with big stops the entire night.

“Goaltending was not the issue tonight for any team,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Philadelphia played a second straight game without regular-season goals leader Owen Tippett due to an undisclosed injury, while Carolina defenseman Alexander Nikishin took warmups but didn’t play as he continues his recovery from a concussion suffered in the clinching game of the first-round sweep of Ottawa.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Aaron Beard, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Hall’s OT score helps Hurricanes top Flyers 3-2 to take 2-0 lead in 2nd-round series of NHL playoffs

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