Ehlers delivers for Hurricanes in Game 2 victory over Canadiens to even series

RALEIGH — Nikolaj Ehlers, the Carolina Hurricanes’ big offseason free-agent acquisition, delivered the biggest goals of the season Saturday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Ehlers scored two go-ahead goals, including the game winner 3:29 into overtime, to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

Game 3 is Monday in Montreal.

Ehlers took a pass from Mark Jankowski on the rush, controlled the bouncing puck and fired a wrist shot that beat Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes to the stick side. Jalen Chatfield started the play with a pass off the boards in the defensive zone to Jankowski. 

“Just try to get some speed and get the puck off my stick as quick as possible and try to surprise the goalie,” Ehlers said after the game. “Seeing that go in, seeing how the fans reacted was pretty cool.”

Montreal won Game 1 6-2 in an uncharacteristically poor performance by the Hurricanes, who allowed five breakaways and plenty of open ice in their first game after an 11-day break between playoff series.

In Game 2, the top-seeded Hurricanes played a much more familiar game — keeping pucks in the offensive zone, winning the shots on goal battle and limiting Montreal’s chances. Carolina outshot Montreal 26-12.

“We knew we had to be better,” Chatfield said. “I thought right from the start we came out there and we got to our game and we know when we do that, we’re capable of doing what we did tonight.”

The Canes, who have struggled in the Eastern Conference Final in recent years, simply couldn’t afford another loss to start the series. Just one team has recovered from two straight losses to open a best-of-seven series in this round of the playoffs — and that was back in 1945.

Instead, Carolina kept up its magical run in overtime.

Carolina has won six straight overtime games in the playoffs, including four in a row this year. And it was the third consecutive Game 2 of this postseason that the Hurricanes have won in overtime.

Ehlers is the sixth different Hurricane to score the game-winning goal in that stretch.

“He’s a special talent and it was on full display tonight,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

The Hurricanes are making their fourth trip to the Eastern Conference Final since 2019, but this year’s team is considered the deepest offensively of this run — in large part due to the acquisition of Ehlers, who has played alongside Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook for most of the season. Ehlers had 26 goals and 71 points in his first season in Carolina.

Ehlers, 30, spent his first 10 NHL seasons with Winnipeg, which drafted him in the first round of the 2014 draft, before signing a six-year, $51-million contract with Carolina.

“You add that piece in there and, all of a sudden, I think we’re more explosive. There’s a guy that can win the game for you,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s an important element, especially in a game like this. It’s tight. And we need that goal, and he’s got the ability to basically do it himself.”

In the second period, Ehlers had another do-it-yourself type goal. Ehlers carried the puck between Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, shielding it with his body before turning and firing a shot through the legs of Dobes.

"On that first goal, you just see the skill that he has," Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said.

For a bit it looked as if that might be the game-winning goal. 

But Montreal’s Josh Anderson scored his second of the night off a rebound in front of Carolina goaltender Frederik Anderson to tie the game midway through the third period.

As they did in Game 1, the Hurricanes scored the first goal early in the first period. Eric Robinson deflected a shot attempt by William Carrier past Dobes less than three minutes into the first period. Carolina scored 33 seconds into Game 1.

And Montreal, as it did in Game 1, answered back. Anderson scored on Montreal’s first shot on goal in the game with 8:49 remaining in the first to tie it up.

But, unlike in Game 1 when Montreal scored four first-period goals and largely controlled the run of play, Carolina took control for vast stretches Saturday night. Among the big adjustments for the Hurricanes was to match up captain Jordan Staal’s line against Montreal star Nick Suzuki’s line with Caufield (51 goals) and Juraj Slafkovsky (30 goals). Suzuki had 101 points in the regular season. The trio had eight points in Game 1, including three goals.

The line didn’t have a point in Game 2 against the Staal-Ehlers-Jordan Martinook line.

“We needed to change something up a little bit, so we tried to do that,” Brind’Amour said. “You know what you’re getting out of Jordo, no matter who he’s playing against. But he’s hard to play against. That was a good matchup for us.”

Said Ehlers: “That Suzuki line is unbelievable, For us it was about keeping it simple – making sure we got everyone back, making sure we got pucks deep, playing in their end, making it hard for them.”