For the second straight game, the Canes struck first, as Jalen Chatfield notched the contest's first tally fewer than two minutes in. A shot from Stefan Noesen rebounded off Sergei Bobrovsky's pad to the wall, where Sebastian Aho picked it up and flung it to the front of the net. Chatfield redirected the pass to the far post, giving Carolina an early lead with his first career playoff goal.
Just seconds later, Gustav Forsling fluttered a shot past Antti Raanta that seemingly tied the contest, but Carolina successfully challenged the play for offsides, retaining its 1-0 lead.
From there the Hurricanes kept their foot on the gas, peppering Bobrovsky with shot after shot. But the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stayed hot to keep his team in it, allowing the Panthers to even the pace of play as the teams traded opportunities.
With approximately two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first period, the Canes seemingly doubled their lead when Mackenzie MacEachern kept the puck in the offensive zone before feeding Jack Drury in the slot who found twine. But just as Carolina had done earlier in the period, Florida would challenge for offsides, winning the call and keeping the score at 1-0 heading to the second period.
In the middle stanza, Florida came out with a stronger push but couldn't get anything past Raanta, who was making his first start since Game 5 in Round 1. But 12:17 into the frame the visitors finally struck, capitalizing on a failed clearing attempt by Carolina. Cats captain Aleksander Barkov found himself all alone in front of the net, and pulled a nifty fake-through-the-legs move to even the contest.
The teams would play scoreless hockey through the rest of the second period and all through the third, as both squads tightened up and combined for just 11 shots in the final frame of regulation.
After playing the sixth-longest game in NHL history in Game 1, Game 2's overtime would be a different story. Tkachuk buried a feed from Sam Reinhart fewer than two minutes in, marking just the fourth power play goal Carolina has allowed this postseason.
