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Carolina just proved the series hasn’t started yet — and Vegas should be worried
The Carolina Hurricanes are now 6-0 in overtime during these playoffs, and the Hurricanes overtime Game 2 win makes that record feel less like luck and more like identity. Trailing 2-0 entering the third period in a Stanley Cup Final game they could not afford to lose, Carolina rattled off three goals — including a chaotic stretch that flipped the game inside out — before Seth Jarvis ended it on a power-play strike roughly four minutes into overtime, final score 4-3. The series is tied 1-1. Vegas was one bad challenge away from controlling this Final.
The challenge that turned the game
Carolina’s comeback wasn’t just grit — it had a hinge moment. After the Hurricanes erased that two-goal deficit with two goals in a span of 2:26, Vegas called a goaltender interference challenge on what appeared to be an Ivan Barbashev goal that officials had waved off. The challenge failed. That meant a Hurricanes power play, and Carolina converted it to grab the lead for the first time all night. It’s the kind of sequence that haunts a team for the rest of a series — Vegas essentially handed Carolina the go-ahead goal by challenging a play that officials had already ruled no-goal. Golden Knights coach Tortorella said afterward he’d make that challenge ten times out of ten, and he’s not wrong to defend the decision in principle, but the execution cost his team dearly.
Mark Stone answered for Vegas, burying a tying goal with 1:21 left in regulation to force overtime and remind everyone why he’s still one of the most dangerous captains in the league. But the Hurricanes didn’t flinch. Jordan Staal told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that “1-1 sounds a lot better than 0-2,” which is the most understated way possible to describe what Carolina just pulled off.
The goaltending gap is real, and it runs the other way than you’d expect
Here’s the angle that gets lost in the comeback narrative: Frederik Andersen made 23 saves and was the steadier presence for most of the night, while Carter Hart stopped 22 of 26 shots for Vegas. Hart has been a legitimate story in these playoffs, but on a night when Carolina generated sustained zone time and the Golden Knights’ power play had every opportunity to bury this game early, Vegas couldn’t put it away. That inability to close — surrendering a two-goal lead in under three minutes of the third — is a structural concern for a team that relies on controlling tempo. If Andersen holds serve in his building, Carolina’s depth up front becomes a serious problem for Vegas over a seven-game series.
The 6-0 overtime record changes how you must play Carolina
This is the part the source coverage doesn’t dig into enough: an undefeated overtime record through six games in a single playoff run is not a coincidence — it’s a psychological weapon. Every team Carolina faces now has to calculate the cost of letting a game reach OT. Vegas, specifically, just watched a team come back from two goals down and then win in overtime in their own building. That math changes the way Stone, Howden — who had two goals in Game 2 — and the Vegas forwards approach third-period leads going forward. Do they play aggressive and risk the transition chances that Carolina lives on? Or do they sit back and cede zone time to a team that has shown it doesn’t need much to score? There’s no clean answer, and Carolina’s overtime record is what creates that dilemma. The Hurricanes aren’t just winning extra frames; they’re making opponents afraid to see one coming.
The series shifts to Vegas for Game 3 on Saturday. Watch whether Carolina’s third-period structure tightens — if they can build a lead on the road rather than chase one, this series could be over before it gets back to Raleigh.
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