Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead (0:49)Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead. (0:49)
Associated PressMultiple AuthorsMay 4, 2026, 10:41 PM ET
RALEIGH, N.C. — Taylor Hall slipped the puck past Dan Vladar at 18:54 of overtime to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Monday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their second-round series in the NHL playoffs.
“When you score in overtime, it seems like parts of your memory kind of go,” Hall said, adding later: “I was in another time zone there for a second.”
Seth Jarvis had the third-period goal that forced overtime for Carolina, and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored. Frederik Andersen finished with 34 saves to help the Hurricanes improve to 6-0 in the postseason.
The Flyers did that early, with Jamie Drysdale and Sean Couturier scoring in a 39-second span of the first period for the Flyers. And they outshot Carolina 15-8 in overtime in a much more assertive showing, but the Flyers couldn’t beat Andersen again after that flurry in the first five minutes.
Vladar had 40 saves, including twice stopping Carolina’s Eric Robinson on second-period breakaways. He also got a timely bit of help in that period from Travis Sanheim, who cleared a loose puck that had slipped behind Vladar in the crease to deny Carolina a tying score.
Tocchet felt more energy from his Flyers — in their first postseason since 2020 — in the aftermath of the Game 1 loss.
“I thought the young guys competed,” he said. “I’m really proud of these guys. They just made the play at the end, that’s it.”
Ehlers’ one-timer on the power play got Carolina on the board in the first. Then Ehlers fed a trailing Jarvis to beat Vladar from the right side midway through the third period, ultimately forcing OT.
It was a penalty-filled night with the teams combining to go 2-for-13 with the man advantage, which derailed either team from getting in much of a 5-on-5 rhythm and left it to Vladar and Andersen to come up with big stops the entire night.
Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead (0:49)Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead. (0:49)
Afterward, Hall said he didn’t even realize he had fallen down until he watched a replay afterward.
The series shifts to Philadelphia for Thursday’s Game 3.
“Goaltending was not the issue tonight for any team,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Philadelphia played a second straight game without regular-season goals leader Owen Tippett due to an undisclosed injury, and Carolina defenseman Alexander Nikishin took warmups but didn’t play as he continues his recovery from a concussion suffered in the clinching game of the first-round sweep of Ottawa.
Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead. (0:49)