Dominant possession and a relentless four-line attack fueled Carolina’s overtime surge, as Nikolaj Ehlers’ heroics and a stifling defensive effort leveled the series against the Canadiens.
The message amongst the Carolina Hurricanes was pretty clear following Game 1's abysmal showing.
They had to be better.
And low and behold, in Game 2, they were certainly that, as they got the job done in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
"There was a lot to be better at," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We definitely focused on one thing — I don't really want to tell you what that is — but we were much better at it tonight. Clearly. We're going to have to keep doing that."
All night, the Hurricanes were flat out the better team against the Canadiens.
From the drop of the puck, Carolina dominated possession and they were able to roll all four lines throughout the game.
The Hurricanes' fourth line was once again really good on the night, not only contributing the first goal of the game as Eric Robinson redirected one in past Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes for this second straight game with a goal, but the line overall was just able to consistently stack positive shifts.
"This time of year, I just think, especially with the way we want to play, that you have to roll four lines to be effective," Brind'Amour said. "Those guys have been good every night. A couple of goals have been called back, but they've been around it the whole playoffs. They had a big hand in this here tonight."
Every shift they got, it felt like they were in the Canadiens zone, wrecking havoc, laying hits and just generally giving the opposition hell.
It's exactly what you need from your bottom six in the postseason and every goal they can chip in with too is just gravy.
"We were just trying to keep it simple, trying to get in on them, create turnovers on the forecheck, be hard, be heavy," said fourth line center Mark Jankowski. "That’s the identity of our line. Create some momentum for our team and then chip in with some offense when we can."
But it wasn't just them.
Most notably, the Jordan Staal line was one of the biggest pluses for the team on Saturday and one of the few lines that actually showed on in Game 1 as well.
From Nikolaj Ehlers scoring two critical goals on some tremendous solo efforts, including the overtime winner, to their work shutting down Montreal's top line, they were just so crucial to the win.
"That's who Jordan Staal should be playing against. The best players," Brind'Amour said. "That's usually how we do it. Just obviously felt like from the other night we needed to change something up a little bit, so we tried to do that. You know what you're getting out of Jordo no matter who he's playing against. He's hard to play against. That was a good matchup for us tonight."
On that same note, that was a really good bounce back game from Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, who both finished with a +3 rating after an uncharacteristically tough Game 1.
All night the two were knocking down pucks, blocking shots, killing plays and that's a big reason why Carolina was successful in Game 2.
"I was never worried about that," Brind'Amour said on Slavin's bounce back. "That's the one thing I know about Jaccob. He's the best athlete I've ever seen at being able to just turn the page. He also showed that he was human the other night, to be honest. He had a game where I was like, 'I haven't seen that in... ever.' But there's a guy where nothing bothers him. He has a strong belief in what he's all about. He bounced back and Jalen [Chatfield] did too."
"The win's the cherry on top, but for myself, I expect a lot of myself, and God's given me great abilities to play this game," Slavin said. "So whether it's a good game or a bad game, I'm going to give him the glory. That was my mindset going into night. Just play with confidence in who I am in him and just let the game come as it does."
Despite the dominant game, it was still a lot closer than Carolina would have liked thanks to those same mental mistakes that cost them in Game 1.
Taylor Hall made an egregious turnover in the defensive zone in the first period, leading to Montreal's first goal, and then the top line completely botched clearing a loose puck in the crease leading to the late equalizer.
"I think we're going to be able to find some things to work on and be even better for Game 3," Chatfield said.
But credit to the team, they stuck with their game and continued to dominate overtime.
Montreal wasn't even able to attempt a shot on goal in the extra frame due to Carolina's relentless pressure, which eventually led to Ehlers' winner after a great play at the defensive blueline by Chatfield to knock down a dump in and send the Canes back the other way.
"I think that was our intent throughout the whole game," Brind'Amour said on the relentless overtime forechecking. "The last 10 minutes of the third wasn't great, but I thought for most of the game we were pretty in sync with what we needed to do and it showed. We need to find a way to keep doing that."
"I think we just have a group of guys that has been there before and we know what it takes," Chatfield said. "Sticking to the game plan and not trying to change anything in OT. I thought we did that and Fly made a great play. Everybody on the ice, every shift from the start OT, I thought we stuck to the game plan and had a nice finish."
The Hurricanes will now head on the road as they look to return the favor and steal a game from the Canadiens at their home arena.
"It's huge, obviously," Brind'Amour said on the 1-1 series split. "They're going to be happy with getting the win here and we're happy that at least we can start the series over. Nothing has really been accomplished other than we can trash that first game and now we can really start the series now is how we have to look at it. The good news is that we feel good about what we need to do and we got to it tonight."
"We knew the stakes coming into this game, how important it was," Jankowski said. "And now we get to go on the road to Montreal, in a great building as well, and play two good games as well."
Game 3 will be on Monday, with puck drop slated for 8 p.m. EST.
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