RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Taylor Hall slipped the puck past Dan Vladar at 18:54 of overtime to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Monday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their second-round series in the NHL playoffs.
Hall took a short feed from Sean Walker and carried the puck in on the left side before being knocked to his knees near the top of the crease. But Hall hopped up as Jackson Blake battled for the loose puck, corralled
it and beat Vladar to cap a night that saw the Hurricanes fall behind 2-0 quickly for their first deficit of the postseason.
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.
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.
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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