‘Special talent’ Ehlers drives Hurricanes to Game 2 OT win in Eastern Final

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When the Carolina Hurricanes signed Nikolaj Ehlers last summer, they were looking for someone who could bolster their offense, someone who could be a game-changer, someone who could be the difference.

Boy, was he ever the difference for Carolina on Saturday.

“Saw it,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the dynamic element of Ehlers, who scored the winner at 3:29 of overtime to lead the Hurricanes over the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center.

“It’s exactly what we talked about many times this year: he’s a special talent and it was on full display tonight.”

Indeed, it was, and it’s what the Hurricanes need in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, especially at this stage. The Hurricanes had won one conference final game since Brind’Amour was named coach in 2018-19 before adding Ehlers, who signed as an unrestricted free agent here on July 3, 2025.

Ehlers has six points (four goals, two assists) in nine playoff games with Carolina, one point shy of the career-high seven postseason points he had with his former team, the Winnipeg Jets, in 2017-18 and last season.

“You have a guy who, you don’t have to change your game but now you add that piece in there and all of a sudden, I think we’re more explosive,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s a guy who can win the game for you and I think that’s an important element, especially in a game like this. It’s tight and we need that goal and he’s got the ability to basically do it himself is what happened. Obviously that’s pretty important.”

Ehlers became the fifth Hurricanes player since 2010 to score within the opening four minutes of playoff overtime.

Brind’Amour knew what Ehlers could bring to the Hurricanes. So did general manager Eric Tulsky. So did Carolina goalie and fellow Dane, Frederik Andersen, a longtime friend of Ehlers.

“He skates really well and sees the game pretty quick,” Andersen said. “That’s what our game plan is: you have to be a really good skater to be in this room and the way we play is very taxing, and obviously with his speed it’s going to help just create more opportunities to score and I think he’s got the skill set to do that.”

On the flip side, Ehlers came here knowing the Hurricanes had a lot of great pieces in place and he had a great chance to win the Stanley Cup with this group.

So, what did that overtime goal mean to him?

“Everything,” said Ehlers, whose voice caught for a moment before he talked again. “I can barely talk right now. I was yelling pretty loudly after that OT winner.”

So was everyone else at Lenovo. Defenseman Jalen Chatfield cleared the puck out of the defensive zone to forward Mark Jankowski, who passed it to Ehlers at the red line. Ehlers, with the speed that’s been his trademark during his NHL career, took care of it from there.

“He’s so fast, he’s so skilled. Easiest assist in my life on that one, just poke it to him in the neutral zone, let him do the rest,” Jankowski said to laughs. “It’s awesome to be able to watch someone like that.”

Ehlers recently talked of how he’s a lot more comfortable in Carolina now, joking that he no longer needs to use his GPS to find the rink. Finding the back of the net has rarely been a problem for him, however.

He’s here to help the Hurricanes get that Stanley Cup that’s eluded them since 2005-06, and he’s certainly playing his part in getting it.

“Every single year you want to win the Stanley Cup, and you want to have a chance at that and when I signed here, I knew what a great team they had,” he said. “I’ve been playing against this team the last 10 years and that’s something that excited me.

“We’re in the Eastern Conference Final now so the scoring depth we have is something that we’ve had all year and especially in the playoffs. It’s huge. (Eric Robinson) gets that first one and in the second round it was (Logan Stankoven’s) line. We all have to get it going and it’s going to be different players at different times, different games. We just all have to keep working and playing the right way. That’s the only way we’ll continue playing.”