After a marathon that ended at 1:54am on Friday morning, the Hurricanes and Florida Panthers faced off tonight in Game 2 of the Eastern Final.
Here’s the Hurricanes and Panthers line-up.
Game 2 crew 💪 pic.twitter.com/tsTjVfEfNm
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 20, 2023
#FlaPanthers in warmups:
Verhaeghe – Barkov – Duclair
Cousins – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – Reinhart
Lomberg – Staal – WhiteForsling – Ekblad
Staal – Montour
Mahura – GudasBobrovsky
Lyon– Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) May 20, 2023
There was a surprise in store for Hurricanes fans when it was Antti Raanta in front of the net and not Frederic Andersen, who had been sensational in Game 1.
To say the least, the Hurricanes started the game like a lion by attacking Sergei Bobrovsky’s net, who flinched in the 2nd minute of play.
The hand-eye coordination 🤌 pic.twitter.com/ALJhDiTOVq
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 21, 2023
In fact, the Panthers even trailed 17-2 in shots on goal midway through the first period.
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Gustav Forsling thought he had tied the game, but Carolina challenged the goal for a possible offside situation and won. The managers of the Canes’ Twitter account were delighted.
Video review team for the win
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 21, 2023
Moments later, the Hurricanes had the same trick played on them, and this time the reaction wasn’t quite as happy.
Stupid video review team. No goal.
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 21, 2023
After a period of 11 shots, the Panthers came out with their claws in the second period, when Alexander Barkov brought both teams back to square one with a superb goal. On the sequence, he served up a feint to Raanta.
SIMPLY UNBELIEVABLE pic.twitter.com/8EiapsJ3Wy
– Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 21, 2023
The rest of the period was all about the two goalkeepers, who were solid.
The game tightened up in the third, so overtime was necessary, and this time it was much shorter.
On a penalty to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Matthew Tkachuk, once again, gave his team the win and, as in the first game, immediately headed for the dressing room.
TKACHUK DOES IT AGAIN‼️
HE SCORES HIS SECOND STRAIGHT OT WINNER FOR FLORIDA! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/OYHt0C0v60
– NHL (@NHL) May 21, 2023
The series now moves to Florida, where the Panthers will have the opportunity on Monday night to deal a blow to the Hurricanes, who are having trouble scoring at 5-on-5.
Breaking news
– Defeat for Montreal CF.
CF Montréal loses on soggy Red Bulls turf https://t.co/nt16ZJSAUI
– Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) May 21, 2023
– That’s the truth.
We thought the Panthers paid too much for Matthew Tkachuk.
The guy’s built for the playoffs! 🤑 pic.twitter.com/HQP3RLvAWn
– Nicolas Ducharme (@NicolasDucharme) May 21, 2023
– There’s something going on in South Florida.
It’s a South Florida thing 😏 pic.twitter.com/gI46AQHCam
– SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 21, 2023
– He knows what he’s talking about.
Coach Cooper in the building talking marathon overtime games 👀 pic.twitter.com/dkYsAjzAs9
– NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) May 20, 2023