In Raleigh, the Hurricanes’ Stefan Noesen scored off the power play at 3:47 of the third period to force overtime with the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Final.
His goal tied the game, 2-2.
But Matthew Tkachuk scored with 12 seconds left in the fourth extra session for a 3-2 win to the Panthers.
The winner came off a turn over in the neutral zone and a dump of the puck to the right corner.
Tkachuk picked up the puck in the right circle and roofed winner.
“Probably my favorite [goal] so far in my life,” Tkachuk said. “Big to not let it go to five overtimes there. [Sergei Bobrovsky] played great, everybody followed. Total team effort for two games, basically.”
The Panthers lead the series, 1-0.
“You’ve got to tip your cap to both teams how they played,” Tkachuk said. “Fourth overtime, guys are diving, blocking shots, diving to get pucks out. I don’t know how many blocked shots there were on both sides. But both teams are very dialed in and playing smart but hard and very for the team. Both teams are very team first and you can easily tell that.
“We knew they were going to be tight, low-scoring games against these guys and that’s something that we’re confident and comfortable in, and it should be good the rest of the series.”
Bobrovsky made 63 saves to get the win.
“It kind of becomes a game of attrition,” Bobrovsky said. “Just trying to be patient and wait for the moment, wait for the shot. At that point, you don’t feel much about your body. It’s more about mental, you don’t think, your focus is completely on the game.”
Florida was scoreless in three power play chances.
“At the end of the day, both teams spent what they had; that’s a huge cost for both teams,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There were pieces of that game that both teams owned and looked exactly like they’re supposed to look.”
Florida’s Ryan Lomberg‘s goal in the first extra session was waved off for goalie interference.
Seth Jarvis had give the Canes a 1-0 lead in the first period on a power play goal with 12 seconds left in the opening stanza.
“It’s the worst way to lose, there’s no way around it,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “A lot of ups and downs in that game. At the end of the day, it’s one game.”
Game 2 is set for Raleigh on Saturday/.
The Panthers rallied in the middle frame off two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead.
The Canes missed on an open chance off the power play in the first overtime period.
“Obviously, we had a chance to win it,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “I thought it was a [heck] of a battle. It’s going to be like that every game against that team. That’s playoff hockey. I’m not surprised that’s the way it looked out there. We’ll have to regroup and take it to the next game.”
Alexander Barkov scored at 13:47 to tie the game, 1-1.
Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead, 2-1, at 13L43.
“That’s a great team over there,” Tkachuk said. “What I’m seeing is two really great teams fighting it out for every inch. It’s little battles that, maybe people don’t realize, but they’re very important and both teams are doing it all game long.”
Anthony Duclair assisted on both goals.
Carolina scored twice on six power play chances.
Frederik Andersen made 57 saves in the loss.
“[Bobrovsky] was good, but so was Freddie,” Carolina’s Martin Necas said. “Both goalies played great. We’ve got to get a little more in, shoot a little bit more with traffic, get the pucks through. Both goalies played great. They got a nice goal at the end there.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.