Taylor Hall’s gritty overtime winner capped a stunning comeback after the Hurricanes erased an early deficit and survived the frequent trips to the penalty box to seize a commanding series lead.
The Carolina Hurricanes have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers thanks to a Taylor Hall OT game winner.
The Canes stormed back from an early 2-0 deficit to force overtime and weathered the storm before eventually Hall found a greasy one.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Hall, Nikolaj Ehlers, K'Andre Miller, Sean Walker and Seth Jarvis spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On Taylor Hall with a crucial block as well as the OT winner: We talked about it before the playoffs, his impact on the team and maybe the buy-in or whatever, but the change in his game, he wants to win. So he's doing whatever he has to do to help the team. And he’s doing it, in that situation obviously, at both ends of the rink. And winning it for us too. He's been just a great player for us.
On facing adversity early: I actually thought we had a good start, and yet we throw one over the glass for no reason and then they had a good shift, and we had it on our stick and bobbled it around, and next thing you know, we're down two. So that was not ideal, but I actually liked the way we played for the rest of the first half of the game. We found a way to kind of get it close and I think that was the key. Not to get another one for them. And then, too many penalties. That just kills your team, kills your momentum, kills everything. But you’ve got to give the guys credit; they did a great job there and then found a way to tie it up.
On the line changes before the tying goal: Jeff Daniels, who helps me with the forward group, does such a good job. He was just like, 'It's time.' And then literally the first shift, we tie it. So I have to give him all the credit there for tapping me and saying it had been long enough. Paid dividends. Doesn't always work, but it did tonight.
On Frederik Andersen: He was the difference, right? In overtime, especially. I thought we had that one bad shift and then took a penalty, and they had plenty opportunities to win the game. So he was the difference there. That's where he really, I think, rose to the occasion and enabled us to hang in there and maybe enable us to get the win.
On the OT penalty kill and all the penalties: They had some looks there. But we’re taking too many, right? The ones that are self-inflicted for me — over the glass, little tic-tac ones — we’ve got to avoid these. Too many men — we’ve had too many of those here. We've gotten away with it because we've been able to kill it, but it's not how you draw it up. So we’ve got to do better job there. But on the other hand, the guys that are killing it have done just an amazing job.
On Sean Walker: He's the one that threw it over the glass in the first, but he's such a competitor. That's why we love him. Mistakes are going to happen, but it seems to fire him up when things like that happen. And he does have an offensive flair — that was a hell of a move — just their goalie played great too. I mean, let's be honest, big breakaways at both ends... goaltending was not the issue tonight for any team.
On what the top power play unit needs: They've got to get a little more desperation in their game. It's probably a good sign for us though that we still have another level, and we all know it. We're finding ways to obviously get it done, and it's just a matter of time. I think these guys will start chipping in in that department because, again, it's an area that we've got to be better.
On the defense: Can kind of go down the list, especially with our D right now. That pair, Miller, you’ve got to give him his due too because he's been great, logging a lot of minutes against top, top competition. I mean, all year they've been doing that, and that’s one of the key reasons our defense has helped us to be where we're at.
On Hall saying he didn’t have his “A” game: That's probably what happened tonight. There's a pro that just understands how to evaluate his game and knows, ‘OK, maybe of this isn't going good, but I’ve got to do something else. The one thing about him that we know is he wants to make a difference. And that goal, to me, kind of sums it up for me. You can just almost tell when he grabbed it. He's like, 'I'm going to try to put this away,' and he's got that flair to him, and obviously it worked tonight.
Taylor Hall
On his game-winning goal: I just watched it and I didn't even realize I had fell down and then put it in. When you score in overtime it seems like parts of your memory kind of go. It was a gritty goal. I didn't do a very good job of attacking tonight personally. So I got that puck and I just wanted to get to the middle of the ice as much as I could and I got a shot off and got the rebound. That was an overtime goal, for sure.
On his last second block at the end of the third period: I might have overbackchecked on that and came a bit too deep in my zone, but as soon as he got the puck, I just wanted to challenge him and kind of went road hockey goalie there for a second. Anyone on our team is going to try and sellout to block that in that situation and it was my turn.
On Frederik Andersen: He's such a good goalie and he's so composed and he's unflappable and that's one of his strengths, honestly. Just being able to flush things. I think he has confidence right now with how he's playing and that shows if something goes a little bit wrong. When you're a confident player, athlete, you just flush and keep going and that's what he did. He made so many saves, some of which didn't even hit the net, but he's in such good positioning that he forces guys to really want to pick a corner. He's been our rock and it's just fun to watch.
On Sean Walker's underrated offensive game: He's a very good puck transporter for a Dman. We've had that similar type of play a few times this season where he's coming in on that side and I'm on my left wing. I was yelling like, 'Hey, I want it,' but he made a great play to keep driving and trusted that I wasn't gonna turn it over and make us go the other way. But Walks is such an underrated player and that was one of the first things I realized last year when I got here. Just how good he was. There's always guys on a new team that you start to appreciate more and more and he was one of them.
On if he got any deja vu feelings when the Flyers weren't leaving the ice after his goal: Yeah. I mean, I didn't really know. The ref kind of pointed at center, but I didn't... I don't know. I was kind of in another time zone there.
On his line: Tonight, honestly, wasn't our strongest game 5v5. We had a couple looks there in the third period, but for the most part, they did a good job on us. They're not letting any slot plays, not letting anything come from below the goal line to the slot, and that's kind of where we were having some success in that Ottawa series. We were already talking about some adjustments we might make, but they're a good defensive team. You look at their numbers and all that. They're strong and they're gonna force you to make plays and they're gonna keep you to the outside. We're gonna have to figure out something.
On contributing even when he's not having his best game: As you get older and you play this game for awhile, you have to figure out if you don't have your A game. If maybe you have your B-minus game or something close that and so you find a way to contribute. That's hockey. And like I said, they've done a good job of keeping us to the outside. But Fly penetrates on the one goal and gives it to Jarvy. That's the type of stuff that you're gonna have to do. But I think as I get older and I play this game more and more, you're not always gonna feel your best and play your best, but if you can manage to find a way to contribute and not be an anchor on your line, then you're good.
Nikolaj Ehlers
On the line switches in the third period: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, sometimes you have to make some changes to spark anything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Tonight, it did and obviously we're happy about that.
On scoring his first of the postseason: It's always huge, but at that point it was a 2-0 game. You want to get one right back and we were able to do that. After that, it's a one-goal lead. One shot. It took us till six minutes left to get that second one. I loved every second of it. It was awesome to get my first of the playoffs, at home as well. I enjoyed that one tonight.
On what's been going right for the second power play unit: Puck movement. Having an attacking mindset is something that is needed on the power play and especially in the playoffs. In the playoffs, you need your power play to score sometimes and we were able to do that tonight. But that attacking mindset will create some loose pucks where you can get a little creative and find somebody open. I think that attacking mindset is something we need to keep going forward.
On the resolve of the team: We don't quit. I think we've shown that all year. If we keep playing the right way and keep putting a lot of pressure on their players every single shift, I think we'll get back to playing some pretty good hockey and creating a lot of turnovers and a lot of good chances. Again, we were able to do that tonight. You want adversity and we had that in the Ottawa series as well. It's gonna happen again and so now we know what to do the next time it happens.
K'Andre Miller
On the comeback win: It was great. I think we did a great job of coming out and playing the right way and just sticking with it. It was our first time trailing in a game this playoffs, so that was a little weird, but I thought we did a great job responding and Freddie played great for us.
On what this win proved: That we can win if they score first? I don't know. They have a good team over there and we just have to stay the course and everything will work out.
On facing adversity: You're gonna have to find different ways to win playoff games and I think we just proved that tonight.
On what's going through his mind in those broken stick situations in OT: Just do anything you can to get the puck out. Keep it out of the net and do whatever you can.
On Frederik Andersen's bounce back: That's just a testament to the type of person he is and the player he is. He's been doing a great job obviously this entire playoffs. You're gonna have a mess up every once in a while, but I think it's just a matter of turning the page and getting back to your game.
Sean Walker
On the team's resolve: It would obviously be nice if everything went perfectly our way the whole time, but not necessarily the way we wanted to start the game, but to watch us battle the whole night, stick to our game plan and not really falter at all is reassuring, for sure.
On the Flyers' push in overtime: Obviously they're playing really good right now too. We're just gonna look to limit those next game. Maybe start a little better and not have to chase as much, but it was back and forth, for sure.
On the sheer amount of penalties: It's tough. Obviously our PK is doing great, but we don't want to put that kind of stress on ourselves every night. Obviously there was some funny ones tonight, a couple of pucks out of the d-zone, bench minor too. We'll have to clean those up, but having a PK we can trust night in and night out is something that's been good, for us.
On K'Andre Miller: I like to think I'm playing pretty good, but Key's been unbelievable. I think he's on another level right now. Just his abilities, his stick, his skating, his physicality, the plays he makes every night has made it easy on me and I'm just trying to help him out whatever I can.
On the game-winner: It was a little scrambly there, but I just saw a great chance to get up the ice there. Beat my guy and it was kind of like a partial 3-on-2. I knew Hallsy was open, so I just kind of kicked it our and drove the net. We knew it might be a greasy one so I'm happy it worked out that way.
On Taylor Hall: Hallsy these whole playoffs has been unbelievable. Again, every night, it feels like they're cashing in and being a big part of our group. To see him get rewarded, I'm not surprised. They've been great all year, but especially in the playoffs. It's been great to see.
On Frederik Andersen: Fred's been so good the whole playoffs so far. We didn't start the way we wanted and we didn't really give him help there, but he shut the door. To have that confidence and know that your goalie is gonna be there. We did have some breakdowns and they had some pushes where they were getting some pretty good chances and he was there to save our ass. Unbelievable and he's really a big part of our team and all the success we've had.
Seth Jarvis
On scoring his first of the postseason: It's always nice to see one go in, especially since I've had chances and haven't been doing it. So to step up in a moment like that was huge. The line shuffling, I mean, it seems like every time with I’m with Jordo, stuff starts to go in. So hopefully that kick starts the rest of my playoffs.
On the line shuffling: I love playing with them. Fly especially, the way he can move the puck throughout the neutral zone, it’s just about finding open ice and that's kind of what happened there. I don't know if he meant to drop it to me, but it worked out. And then with Jordo, I mean, if you don’t have it, you put it behind them and you know that guy's going to go get it and hold onto it and wait for space. So it’s a great pairing, and I'm just happy to be a part of it.
On his buddies being at the game: It's cool. I might have to keep them around more often. When they sounded the siren and we went down 2-0 right away, I was a little nervous. I was about to uninvite them forever. I’m glad we got the win, and to have these guys here... I saw them after we won, and one had a shirt off, the other one was piggybacking on somebody. So I'm glad they're enjoying it.
On if facing adversity is good: One-hundred percent. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think we were losing at any point in the playoffs until then. So to be down two and just kind of stick to our game and wait for opportunities and capitalize, that was huge. It speaks a lot to our leaders, to Roddy just keeping everyone calm and trusting in the process. I'm really proud of how we did that tonight.
On Taylor Hall: He’s been incredible. Almost more important than that goal was that block in the third with a couple seconds left. You never know what happens there. So for him to put his body on the line like that and then get rewarded with the goal, I couldn’t be happier for the guy.
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