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This game was bonkers. Game two of the Stanley Cup final tied at three. Haynes on the power play. Shane Gospare from the point and it's Seth Jarvis with the gamewinner in overtime as Carolina evens the series at one game apiece, beating Carter Hart. Wow, what a game. Vegas built a two nothing lead in this game thanks to Brett Howen. It was going to be the Brett Houden game. Instead, it's the Seth Jarvis game. The power play comes alive for Carolina. And they avoid losing back-to-back games. They're 12-0 coming into this game following a loss. Now 13-0 following a loss since January. And what a game this was as they even up the series at one game a piece. And they improved to 6-0 in overtime this postseason. And now they hit the road to
Vegas where they are 6-0 on the road this postseason. So, Carolina regaining some momentum here in game two. Get some instant analysis. Welcome in CBS Sports hockey analyst Pierre Magcguire and Vegas insider Todd Ferman. And Pierre, you called this pregame. In our pregame show, we talked about how Seth Jarvis needed to take some shots and he just took one of the biggest shots in his career. Nets the gamewinner here in game two. Your reaction is what? Unbelievable performance from Carolina. Courageous performance by Vegas. We're in for the long haul with this series that came in. And Todd, the biggest thing to me is how Shane Gossiper put that on a tea force at Jarvis. And you
can see the fatigue factor for Carter Hart. He was starting to wear out. He was slow reacting from his left to his right, tracking that puck. And you can see Jarvis got it all because of the great tee up. But let's go back to game one. Tomas Hurdle was the hero for Vegas in game two. It's Tomas Hurdle that takes the penalty that leads to the power play and the Seth Jarvis overtime magic. You can't make this stuff up on a te rip it and put it to the back of the net. You can see it's just millimeters of time, but you can see how slow Carter Hart is reacting moving from his left to his right. I believe part of that is fatigue. Todd, I would agree with you, Pierre. And like we said coming into this, Carolina's
power play had been a big problem for them. Well, suddenly it's no longer a problem because whatever they were coming in, three for 37 or however poor they overall performance was, Carolina goes into game three now two for two the last two opportunities. And you mentioned how fast the fates can turn. Tomas Hurdle from the GOAT to the GOAT in the opposite sense given he takes the penalty along the boards against Jordan Stall. But pretty wild when you watch that third period unfold. Briden McNab takes the shot off the beak early on in the first period, but his absence wasn't really felt by the Golden Knights until we got into the high leverage situations late in the third period. You saw an
unorthodox pairing of Jeremy Loausan out there with Rasmus Anderson, not once, but twice when the Carolina Hurricanes were able to score at even strength to tie the game up. And then you see the absence of Braden McNav out there to kill penalties. Not coincidence that Vegas really struggled in some of those high lever spots without one of their most decorated Dman out there. And I'm sure the Golden Knights can only hope that number three is back and available. Even if he's got a busted snout for game three, if he's got to go full cage by hook or by crook, this deco doesn't look the same without their physical presence.
Yeah, Braden McNav takes a puck to the face off the visor there. Skates to the locker room with nine minutes to go in the first period. Taken to the hospital for further evaluation. So certainly hopes and prayers with him in terms of trying to return in game three when the series shifts to Vegas as you see it right there and instantly you know that something is wrong skating right to the dressing room and again he was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Now look there's a critical moment in this game Pierre five minutes to play in regulation. Ivan Barbesev wraparound Freddy Anderson makes the initial save.
The puck gets it knocked into the net by a Carolina player and what's called there is looking for goalender interference. It is not called. We hear the whistle. It's kind of simultaneous and it's a little crazy what happens and what ensues. What did you see? What's your explanation? I thought that the referee Johnny Bear Hakee lost sight of the puck. He was ready to blow the whistle. It's the movement from his hip to bring it up. You'll see Bear come in the official. He'll be standing right behind the net. And if you can watch how demonstrative he is as he comes in, you see Barbashev whacking away. Dora Feev's gonna come in. Jack Eel's going to come in. They
see the puck is going to come underneath the goalender. Johnny Bear's behind the net. And he's just demonstratively waving it off. The whistles to his mouth. He can't. His rule is to blow it dead when he loses sight of the puck. I don't think the officials did anything wrong. I think they did the right thing. I know in Vegas they're not going to be happy, but the truth of the matter is once the official loses sight of the puck, his mandate and his order is to blow the whistle and stop play. And he did. What did you think of the decision by John Tordella to challenge and then of course we know the risk if you lose the challenge, you're going to give up a power play opportunity to Carolina.
I texted Todd before and I said I didn't like it and I'm a big fan of John Tortoell. I personally would not have done it. Even though, and I said this to Todd, even though my penalty kill is so darn good, I still wouldn't have done it at that time of the game because Carolina had all the momentum. The building was going off. Carolina was surging. They were bigger. They were stronger. They were faster. And remember one other thing, Todd made a brilliant point before. Without Braden McNab, that penalty kill is not nearly the same. And you could see Vegas was starting to get tired. I just would not have put my players in that position.
It's always interesting, Hakee and Pierre, when you look at those spots. It all boils down to riskreward. I've never spent time behind the bench, so I defer to Pierre's acumen in that particular regard, but I've spent many a time trying to evaluate decisions and the pluses and minuses that factor in. If Vegas is trailing by a goal, I think the risk is definitely worth taking at the juncture of the game. But to Pierre's point, we've seen the officials gravitate towards the call they make on the ice, and rightfully so. So, I think the only player who might have rubber stamped John Tordella's decision there might be Jim Hiller. And last I checked, gentlemen, Jim Hiller is not behind an
NHL bench anymore at this point. The riskreward and unfortunately for Vegas, the risk outweighed the reward because uh Carolina goes in the power play and we see Shane Gstaspear shot on net and then it's the captain Jordan stall. Gosh bear to stall and it's a 3-2 game and then it's Mark Stone who gets credit for a goal in front. Pierre, I mean, just the back and forth nature. There were four goals in the final 10 minutes, three of them for Carolina as we head to overtime. Just the frenetic fury there and the flurry of goals at the end where it was two nothing for so long. Both these teams are playing so super aggressive. They're getting bodies to the net. They're finishing on every forch check opportunity. They're winning
a lot of one-on-one battles. Both teams are winning one-on-one battles. If you look at both goals that were scored earlier in the game by Brett Hton, they were one-on-one battles that he won. Look at Stone. He's battling down low. He's out musling Chadfield. The puck goes in off a slave stick after it touches Stone. It's an amazing performance by Vegas. It's a great performance and comeback from Carolina. One of the subtle takes I had though, Hakee, and I said this to Todd before. I mean this, you got to give Brenda Moore some credit. That top line of Fetchnikov, AO, and Jarvis was doing nothing. He moved Martinuck up. He moved
Jarvis back to play with Jordan Stall uh and to play with Nikolai Eelers. It made a big difference for Carolina. They had way more thrust with four lines when the coach did that. Brenda Moore deserves some credit for that. They were desperate and I'll give Carolina a world of credit staring down the barrel of not just a two nothing deficit in game two, but the potential of going down two games to nothing headed to Vegas for game three. They get the first goal off of the turnover below the goal line extended. Logan Stanovven right there picking the pocket of Rasimus Anderson. Not quite sure what Anderson is doing with the puck there instead of sending it up off the boards
and trying to get it out of harm's way. And from that point forward, it was almost like the floodgates were going to potentially open. Carolina began to play downhill. You could see the confidence that was there. And for a Vegas team that we talked about going into the game had not been rattled all postseason, it was the first time you started to see them be a little bit vulnerable. And now a series that looked like Vegas was going to have firm control headed home with a chance to really put one of the nails in the proverbial coffin for the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina has all the momentum and Vegas is going to be interested to see what that injury report looks like because I can tell you
the most important 48 hours for Vegas is trying to assess what the de combinations will look like if Braden McNab can't go. Pierre, I won't put words in your mouth, but I can tell you one thing. If I'm on that Vegas bench, I'm not putting Jeremy Loausan and Rasmus Anderson out there together. I'm asking Shay Theodore and Noah Hannifin if they can combine to play 60 minutes for me because that might be what it takes against this Carolina for check that'll be as tenacious as ever in game three. One of my old players, Johnny Stevens, is a guy making those decisions. So, I'm going to make sure that you can call Johnny and find out why he did that.
This was supposed to be, well, at least from the get-go, it was supposed to be the Brett Hen game, right? He had 12 goals in the regular season. He's got 12 g goals here in this postseason. Uh he outmuscles Shawn Walker to the net to take a one- nothing lead. Then he gets another goal, beating Jacob Slavven to the net to make it two nothing in his second goal of the night. And we saw Brett Hton become this playoff darling. And then the tides turn and you look at what has happened here for Carolina. They have not lost back-to-back games since January, Pierre. And now they go on the road where they are 6-0 this postseason. have not lost on the road as they head to Vegas. What's your outlook
for game three as the series shifts to Las Vegas? I don't believe the momentum goes from game to game in the playoffs, but I will tell you this, it can go from shift to shift. And if Carolina builds off their last shift with the first shift they have in Vegas in game three, I think Carolina win game three. I think what Todd said is so critically important, Keem. If they can't get Braden McNab back and their defense pairings are in flux, that's going to be a big problem. Carolina's playing a fourline game right now. That little subtle move that Brenda Moore made by moving Jarvis and Martnuk on different lines really helped I think Sebastian Aaho and I really think it helped Seth Jarvis. So, it's going to be
very interesting to see. But if Vegas doesn't have their top players ready to play in game three, Carolina's going to take over this series at least for three games in. It is truly a war of attrition this time of year. And one of the reasons that Caroline and Vegas have both been as good as anyone in the league to make this run to the Stanley Cup finals because neither has really dealt with key components being out of the lineup for an extended period of time. You look at Vegas, they started the postseason without William Carlson. Were able to insert him seamlessly on that second line. They played five games without
Mark Stone. We've seen the impact that Mark Stone can make that's out there. Braden McNab may not be a household name, but he has been a fixture on this Vegas blue line for the nine years that the franchise has been in existence. And while it was a limited sample size, and you hate to overreact, I mentioned some of those questionable deep pairings that just look like they didn't feel comfortable and have the same chemistry that you've grown accustomed to. And then, of course, the big gaping hole on the penalty kill. Not coincidence that Carolina was able to muster four tallies in the final 10 plus minutes of regulation and overtime. Without McNab, you don't feel the impact in the first
and second period, but when those high leverage minutes start to get ratcheted up, Pierre can speak to it better than I can. Guys are out of their comfort zone. They're logging much more in the way of minutes than they feel comfortable with. It's easy to take those first couple shifts, but when those legs get heavy late in the game, that mind starts to go, and it's where you make some of those questionable decisions with the puck on your stick. And against a team like Carolina, you don't get room to breathe if Rod Brymore is going to continue to run four lines and keep everybody fresh deep into the third.
By the way, the trend was your friend in this game because Carolina bounces back following a loss. And I'll also point out they've won every game to this postseason in overtime. How can you not get romantic about hockey? I mean over Yeah, Vegas was undefeated in overtime coming into this one as well. So the trend was working in their favor. But if you had told me Carolina down two nothing at about 11 to one in the live market was going to come back and win this game, you're a little bit sharper than I am. And that crystal ball truly paying dividends in the live betting market.
The trend was your friend, my friends here on CBS Sports HQ. Pierre Magcguire and Todd Ferman joining us postgame of game two. A wild one as the Canes even up the series at one game a piece. Men, thank you. Much more ahead in the Stanley Cup final as the series shifts to Vegas on Saturday night. And dating back to last season, the Hurricanes have won eight straight overtime games. Eight is great. That's the third longest tied for the third longest in NHL postseason history. And it is now 13 straight wins for the Canes following a loss. They are 6-0 in overtime this postseason, but they continue to win in overtime.
Perhaps this time will be their time and they can rehoist the Stanley Cup trophy. Long way to go. We are tied at one game a piece.
