Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 17: Hurricanes rally against Flyers, Golden Knights hang on to beat Ducks
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.
The second round is in full swing, as teams vie to inch closer to their respective conference finals, with a couple of thrilling divisional matchups taking place on Monday night.
Hall’s OT winner caps Hurricanes’ rally
The Carolina Hurricanes had a relatively easy time beating the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Metropolitan Division Final. That was far from the case on Monday night, as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference needed to come back from a multi-goal deficit to win 3-2 in overtime.
After getting goose-egged in the opening game of the series, the Flyers wasted little time getting on the board in Game 2. Thanks to an early power play, Jamie Drysdale scored his second goal of the postseason to put the visitors out in front.
It marked not only the first time in the playoffs that the Hurricanes gave up the first goal of the game, but it was also the first time the team had trailed.
Philadelphia didn’t stop there. Just 29 seconds later, captain Sean Couturier scored his first of the playoffs, giving his team a 2-0 lead on its first three shots of the contest. The Hurricanes managed to settle down and started to take the play to the Flyers. On a power play of their own, Nikolaj Ehlers finally scored his first of the playoffs, just past the halfway mark of the first, cutting the deficit in half.
Carolina came out with a strong presence as well in the middle frame, but Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar frustrated the opposition with some big-time stops. Along with a little help from Travis Sanheim, Philly maintained a one-goal lead heading into the third.
Time was beginning to be the enemy of the Hurricanes, as it seemed like they weren’t going to be able to beat Vladar to tie the game. That was, until Seth Jarvis, with his buddies in the stands, snuck a shot by the Czech netminder to tie the game with a hair over eight minutes to go in regulation.
While both teams had chances in the closing minutes of the third period, neither managed to score, and the game headed into overtime.
In the extra frame, it was the Flyers that finally built some consistent offensive zone pressure. They ended up putting 15 shots on Frederik Andersen, but the Danish goaltender came up clutch when called upon. It looked like we were heading for a second overtime, but Taylor Hall, on a great individual effort, scored the game-winner to give Carolina the win and a 2-0 lead in the series.
It was Hall’s third goal of these playoffs.
The defeat is a crushing one for Philly, which had a glorious opportunity to steal a win before heading back home for Game 3. Now, they need a vigorous rally to avoid elimination when the series (potentially) returns to Raleigh.
Vladar ended up making 38 saves in the losing effort, while Andersen made 34 stops.
Hart steps up as Vegas outlasts Anaheim
The opening game of the Pacific Division Final was a hard-fought battle, with the Vegas Golden Knights relying on the play of their goaltender to come away with a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
While the Ducks are the rising, yet inexperienced playoff team, they certainly didn’t show any jitters in the opening half of the game. They came out swinging, putting pressure on the Golden Knights’ back end and goaltender Carter Hart. Yet, even with Anaheim outshooting Vegas 11-6 in the first 20 minutes, we remained scoreless until the opening minutes of period two, when Mitch Marner made a ridiculous pass to set up Brett Howden for his fifth of the playoffs, giving the home side the first goal of the series.
Despite falling behind, the Ducks were undeterred. They continued to attack, not allowing the Golden Knights much room to do much with the puck. However, as the third began, it seemed like Anaheim wasn’t going to break through. Yet, with almost six minutes to go in regulation, a great play from Jackson LaCombe led to Mikael Granlund hammering home the tying goal, his third of the playoffs.
Unfortunately, for the Ducks, the game didn’t remain 1-1 for long. After a questionable no-icing call, Vegas regained the lead with Ivan Barbashev tapping in a pass from Pavel Dorofeyev a mere 65 seconds later.
Anaheim strived for another equalizer, but a long, arching, empty-net goal from Mitch Marner sealed the win.
Hart played his best game since returning to the NHL this year, stopping 33 of the 34 shots he faced. Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal was solid, but ended up with the loss after making 19 stops.
Both teams failed to score on the power play, as the Ducks went 0-for-4 on the man advantage while the Golden Knights were 0-for-3.