The Carolina Hurricanes gave their fans something to cheer about during an Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years on Saturday night.
With the team’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Montreal Canadiens, the Hurricanes won their first home game in the conference final since June 1, 2006. After winning the Stanley Cup that season, the Hurricanes have been back to the Eastern Conference Finals five times, including this year, losing on home ice 10 times in a row across those five series. They are now just 2-17 overall in those series.
Saturday’s win came via offseason addition Nikolaj Ehlers, as the Danish winger scored twice in the game, including netting the overtime winner just 3:29 into the extra frame.
Nikolaj Ehlers scores OTGWG for Hurricanes in Game 2
Ehlers had also scored Carolina’s second goal of the game to give them a 2-1 lead heading into the third period. He now has six points (4g, 2a) in nine playoff games this spring.
Josh Anderson, a bench-brawling combatant of Tom Wilson’s in last year’s playoffs, scored both of Montreal’s goals in the loss. The Canadiens only recorded twice as many shots, 12, in Game 2 as they did goals, 6, in Game 1.
The Habs were particularly stymied in overtime as the only shots in the period belonged to the Hurricanes before Ehlers’ goal. At the other end of the rink, goaltender Jakub Dobes stopped 23 of 26 shots he faced in a losing effort.
The series, now tied 1-1, will move to Montreal’s rowdy Bell Centre for Games 3 and 4. The Canadiens haven’t been great in their home barn this postseason, going just 2-4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres in the first two rounds.
While the Hurricanes, who came into this year’s series on 11 days of rest, haven’t been back to the Stanley Cup Final since they won in 2006, the Canadiens are more recent visitors to the championship series. The Habs lost the 2021 Cup Final in five games to the Lightning during the 2021 divisional-based postseason format due to COVID-19.
