RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes wanted Nikolaj Ehlers for a reason.
In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday, he proved worthy of the investment.
The Hurricanes were down 1-0 in their series against the Montreal Canadiens following a painful 6-2 blowout in Game 1. It was Ehlers who spotted Carolina its first lead of this round with a goal late in the second period of Game 2. And it was Ehlers again who put the Hurricanes over the top, scoring an overtime winner to hand Carolina a 3-2 victory and split the series on home ice.
It was the sort of momentum-shifting performance the Hurricanes imagined Ehlers could deliver when they signed him as a free agent in July. For Ehlers to match his entire postseason goal output in Saturday's critical game proved they were right about his ability.
"[It means] everything," Ehlers said. "I can barely talk right now. I was yelling pretty loudly after that. I was just trying to get some speed and get the puck off my stick as quickly as possible and try to surprise the goalie [Jakub Dobes]. Seeing that go in, and seeing how the fans reacted, was pretty cool."
Ehlers registered the third-most ice time among forwards (18:41) with five shots on goals and two takeaways. After spending the first 10 years of his career in Winnipeg, Ehlers' first season in Carolina had already been better than expected before he delivered in Game 2.
"It's been great so far. It's been special," he said. "The city has been great; the guys, the organization, everything we can do is special. I felt everything out there [scoring in overtime]. When I signed here, I knew what a great team they had. That was something that excited me, and you know, we're in the Eastern Conference final right now. I'm not going to forget [tonight]."
There is something about Carolina and going to overtime in Game 2 of a playoff series: Saturday marked the third straight time it has happened this spring after the Canes downed Ottawa in double overtime in the first round and then Philadelphia in an extra frame in the second round.
That's not to say the Hurricanes intended to draw it up that way.
Goaltenders on both sides were fooled by the first shots they faced in the opening frame -- Dobes by Eric Robinson's strike less than three minutes in and then, nearly nine minutes later, Frederik Andersen by Josh Anderson's close-range snapshot, which sailed easily over his glove.
It was a frustrating sequence for the Hurricanes. They had just shut down Montreal's power play attempt about 45 seconds prior, only to turn the puck over on a lazy clearing attempt that the Canadiens easily made the Canes pay with an equalizer.
The Hurricanes' own middling power play -- by far the least effective among remaining playoff teams at just 12.8% -- didn't even get a full two minutes to operate on its own first period try when Andrei Svechnikov cut it short with a late infraction to give the Canadiens man-advantage momentum to end one frame and carry over into the next.
Carolina kept pushing in the second, though. Montreal was doing an admirable job of blocking shots as Carolina continued looking for its first lead of the series. Carolina held a 12-4 advantage in shots late in the second frame when Ehlers finally found the net with a dipsy-doodle move through Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson and ripping a strike through Dobes to put the Hurricanes up 2-1 through 40 minutes.
"He's a special talent," coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Ehlers. "It was on full display tonight."
Despite Carolina carrying play offensively, the Canadiens were a shot away from pulling even. And Montreal has shown recently that quality, not quantity, can earn it a victory. The Canadiens topped Tampa Bay 2-1 in Game 7 of their first-round series with only nine shots on goal. So, when Anderson came calling again with seven minutes remaining in the third, he made Montreal's ninth shot count again, putting a puck behind Andersen to tie the score at 2.
It was a tough position to land in. Carolina's offense hasn't exactly been on fire in the postseason -- the Hurricanes entered Game 2 averaging fewer than three goals. Three of their previous eight victories had also come in overtime. Two of their 16 goals credited at 5-on-5 through the first two rounds were empty-netters. It was timely goals -- and saves -- that had propelled them to this point.
Carolina isn't getting all that from Andersen in the conference final. He had been practically pristine to start the postseason -- through two sweeps in the first and second rounds, Andersen produced a .950 SV% and 1.12 GAA. When he allowed five goals on 21 shots (.762 save percentage) in Game 1 against Montreal, it felt like an outlier, the result of compounding rust from 12 days off since jettisoning the Philadelphia Flyers.
There was no excuse, then, for Andersen to still be leaky, under minimal duress, two nights later. Ehlers' sterling showing bailed out his fellow Dane to take some of the spotlight off Andersen's ineffectiveness (allowing two goals on 12 shots for an .833 save percentage) for now.
"I think the goals they got were maybe a little self-inflicted," Ehlers said. "But that team is here for a reason as well. They're great players, and they will finish on the chances that they get, no matter how they get them. We played a really good game, much better than Game 1. It was just a matter of getting that puck in the back of the net and playing the same way that we did for 60 minutes. So proud of the group."
And the team, in turn, should be tickled by Ehlers.
The Hurricanes had tried to find playoff game changers like him in the past. They grabbed Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline two years ago, and he scored three goals in 11 playoff outings while Carolina fizzled in the second round.
Last season, it was Mikko Rantanen they traded for at midseason from Colorado with the hope he would give them an edge, but Rantanen's dissatisfaction with landing in Carolina had him out the door to Dallas well before the playoffs even began.
The third time was the charm when Ehlers signed a six-year, $51 million contract to certify his commitment with helping Carolina get over the proverbial hump. This is the fourth time in eight seasons the Hurricanes have reached a conference final, and they have yet to advance. Ehlers could be the catalyst who flips their script as the series shifts to Montreal.
"[Having Ehlers] makes you that much tougher to play against," Brind'Amour said. "We don't have to change our game, but now you add that piece in there, and all of a sudden I think we're more explosive. There's a guy that can win the game for you, and I think that's an important element, especially in a game like this.
"Nothing's really been accomplished, other than we can kind of trash that first game, and now we got to really start the series now."