The longer the game goes, the tougher the Carolina Hurricanes are to beat.
The Hurricanes won their sixth overtime game of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs without a loss on Thursday evening.
This time it was Seth Jarvis who scored on a power play at 3:56 of overtime, lifting the Hurricanes to a 4-3 comeback win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final in Raleigh, N.C.
The best-of-seven series is tied 1-1 heading to Game 3 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
“You get a new shot of life,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the Hurricanes rallied from a two-goal deficit midway through the third period. “That’s what it feels like. It’s what we needed.”
Logan Stankoven, Mark Jankowski and Jordan Staal netted three consecutive goals in the second half of the third period to give Carolina a brief lead before Mark Stone tied it for Vegas on a 6-on-5 goal with 1:21 left to force overtime.
Less than a minute after Vegas forward Tomas Hertl was called for tripping in the extra session, Jarvis scored with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle.
“That was the best feeling in the world,” Jarvis said.
Shayne Gostisbehere logged two assists while Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the Hurricanes.
Brett Howden produced two more goals and Carter Hart finished with 22 saves for the Golden Knights, who had won seven straight playoff games. Vegas’ Mitch Marner notched two assists.
“We’re fine,” Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We’ve got a positive group. We did a lot of good things tonight. We’ve just got to improve on those mistakes, but we’re all good. We’re excited to go back to Vegas and take control of this again.”
With Hart lifted for an extra skater, Andersen made a save on a shot from the high slot by Marner, but Stone was in position to sweep the rebound into the net with a backhand to tie it 3-3.
“We did a great job controlling our emotions, never got too high, never got too low,” Jarvis said. “Just kept responding, and that’s what I love about this group is we always bounce back.”
The Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead with 4:35 remaining in regulation shortly after an unsuccessful challenge by Vegas coach John Tortorella. The referees had negated a potential Golden Knights goal, ruling goalie interference occurred during a scramble in front of the crease with five minutes left.
The interference ruling was upheld after a video review, putting the Hurricanes on the power play for delay of game. Staal scored on a deflection on the ensuing man advantage.
“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddy, our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie, and it goes through and went to the other side,” Tortorella said. “I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”
Howden opened the scoring at 13:33 of the first period.
Vegas was getting outshot 6-1 when Marner used his backhand to flip the puck high out of his zone. Howden skated under it and held off Carolina defenseman Sean Walker before shooting it under Andersen’s glove.
The Hurricanes outshot the Golden Knights 8-2 in the opening period.
Vegas had just killed Carolina’s second power play of the game when Howden scored again for a 2-0 lead at 7:23 of the second period.
Ivan Barbashev fed Howden coming through the neutral zone with speed. Howden again used his strength and body positioning to hold off Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin before sliding the puck around Andersen and into the net.
Howden has 13 goals in 18 games during this year’s postseason, one more than he scored in 58 regular-season games.
Stankoven cut the margin to 2-1 at 10:20 of the third period. He stole the puck from Rasmus Andersson behind the Vegas net and then banked it off Vegas’ Jeremy Lauzon with a backhand, causing it to be redirected between Hart’s pads.
That brought life to the crowd, and Jankowski tied it 2:26 later on another play that began with a long clearance through the air that William Carrier managed to nudge over to Jankowski as he was falling to the ice. Jankowski skated in and scored with a wrist shot from just above the left hashmarks to tie it 2-2.
Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb did not return after he was hit in the face with a slap shot from Carolina forward Nikolaj Ehlers at 10:52 of the first period. McNabb was transported to a hospital for observation, ESPN reported.
Tortorella did not have an update on McNabb immediately following the game.
–Field Level Media
