By admin 
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN/AP) — Nikolaj Ehlers found the net early in overtime to send the Carolina Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in game two of the Eastern Conference Final at Lenovo Center.
The win now evens the Eastern Conference Final series at one win each.
Ehlers, who Carolina landed as a sought-after free agent, scored twice on the night for the Hurricanes, including a goal late in the second period to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. Montreal tied the game in the third period on Josh Anderson’s second goal of the game.
Carolina was 1-17 in their previous 18 Eastern Conference Final games coming into Saturday night’s showdown.
They duplicated Thursday’s game one start with an early goal from Eric Robinson, but there was no barrage of goals from the Canadiens in the first period Saturday. Anderson responded with an equalizer 11 minutes into the opening frame.
Montreal managed just 12 shots on goal for the game.
For his goal to win the game, Ehlers got loose up the center of the ice and popped the puck past Jakub Dobes at 3:29 of overtime.
The winning sequence started with a retreating Jalen Chatfield bouncing the puck back into the neutral zone to Mark Jankowski, who had a quick redirection to Ehlers entering the zone at full speed for a clean look at Dobes for the winner.
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Earlier in the game, Ehlers’ first goal was a highlight-reel worthy individual effort in the second period against two Montreal defenders.
The Canadiens won the first game 6-2, jumping on a Carolina team coming off an 11-day break after sweeping through the first two rounds — the longest wait to start a series in more than a century — for four goals in the opening 11 1/2 minutes. Montreal repeatedly got loose for clean breakouts and breakaways for high-danger chances against Frederik Andersen in that one.
But Carolina looked much closer to its earlier form in holding Montreal to 12 shots on goal and giving up far fewer of those quick transition chances the Canadiens kept burying in Game 1.
The series now shifts to Montreal for games three and four, starting with a pivotal game three on Monday. The Hurricanes will look to duplicate their success in earlier games this postseason, including key game three wins at Ottawa and Philadelphia.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report