Washington – Connor McMichael and John Carlson scored, Logan Thompson made 26 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in Game 2 on Thursday night to tie the second-round playoff series.
After a slow first period, the Eastern Conference regular-season champion Capitals started to look more like themselves as as the game wore on, dictating their style and not getting hemmed in their end for long stretches. That was essential after they were they were thoroughly outplayed in the series opener, an overtime loss.
Thankful to be in it Tuesday night, Washington in Game 2 outlasted Carolina’s puck possession start and took advantage of a fortunate break and a series of penalties.
McMichael scored 2:15 into the second on a breakaway after an attempted dump-in by Sean Walker hit Hurricanes defense partner Shayne Gostisbehere in the face, slowing his ability to get back. Carlson fired a power-play goal into a wide-open net 1:54 into the third off a textbook cross-ice pass from Tom Wilson that Frederik Andersen had no realistic chance of stopping.
Wilson finished off his dominant game by sealing it with an empty-netter with a minute left. In addition to the assist, he blocked a shot that saved a would-be goal by Carolina.
At the other end of the ice, Thompson kept up his stellar goaltending that helped the Capitals get past Montreal in five games in the first round. Chants of “LT! LT!” filled the arena just about every time Thompson made a stop and halted play.
The Hurricanes got 18 saves from Andersen and a power-play goal from Gostisbehere with 10:34 left but could not erase their deficit. The last team this postseason to be perfect on the penalty kill, entering 17 for 17, their streak was broken on Carlson’s goal.
Game 3 is 6 p.m. EDT on Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes won all three of their home games in the first round against New Jersey and 31 of 41 during the regular season.
For Mike Sullivan, the latest coach of the New York Rangers, there will be many priorities in taking over a team that missed the playoffs a season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Foremost will be communication.
“I have spoken to every player on the roster over the last three days,’’ Sullivan said Thursday at his introductory press conference. “I think there is a fair amount of leadership in that room. There’s a lot of character in that room.”
Sullivan, the 38th coach in franchise history and fifth since 2018, agreed to lead the Rangers on May 2 after parting ways with Pittsburgh, where he won the Stanley Cup twice.
He replaces Peter Laviolette, who was fired April 19 after the Rangers slid 29 points to miss the postseason despite their raft of talent. It will be up to Sullivan to resuscitate a power play that fell from the league’s top echelon to 28th overall in 2024-25 and help the defense improve in front of elite goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who is coming off his worst NHL season.
Sullivan spent four seasons as a Rangers assistant under then-coach John Tortorella from 2009-13. He also coached current Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury during that time. They also worked together through USA Hockey at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February and will be part of the U.S. contingent for the 2026 Milan Olympics.
Sullivan will have top scorers Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox on his side after years guiding Penguins stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in Pittsburgh, where he won the Cup in 2016 and 2017.
“I’ve grown so much respect over the years for the talent that the Rangers have,’’ said Sullivan, who lost a seven-game first-round playoff series to the Rangers in 2022. “I look forward to the opportunity to get to know these guys on a more personal level. I look forward to the opportunity to work with them, both on the ice and off the ice, to try to become the most competitive team that we can become.”
Also pressing for the 57-year-old Sullivan – who was drafted by the Rangers in 1987 and later played 709 NHL games for four other franchises – is how he will handle younger Rangers such as 22-year-old Brennan Othmann and 20-year-old Gabe Perreault, a first-round pick in 2023 who joined the team briefly at the end of last season.
“Part of coaching or the art of coaching, I guess, is trying to figure out what that daily recipe is that’s best for the player,’’ Sullivan said. “Sometimes it’s time in the American League as a young player, sometimes it’s time in the National League depending on the types of minutes that that player can play. What I will tell you is that I think it’s important that every player earns their opportunities, that no one’s entitled to an opportunity.”
Sullivan was joined Thursday by Drury, who was awarded a contract extension last month.
Drury’s previous two coaching hires – Laviolette and Gerard Gallant – each lasted two seasons. The 48-year-old executive expressed enthusiasm for the addition of Sullivan, the only U.S.-born coach with multiple Stanley Cup wins.
“The second Mike was available, we quickly and aggressively pursued him,’’ Drury said. “We are certainly thrilled that pursuit led us to this moment today. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Mikko Rantanen is on a history-making tear. The Florida Panthers need a history-making comeback.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will seek a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Friday night, while Rantanen – on a scoring roll the likes of which hockey hasn’t seen in generations – will lead the Dallas Stars into Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Winnipeg Jets.
Florida lost a pair of one-goal games at Toronto to open their series, which resumes on the Panthers’ home ice for Game 3 on Friday.
History says the Panthers are in big trouble: Toronto has won all 11 of its previous best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead at home, Florida is 0-5 all-time in series where it dropped both Games 1 and 2, and leaguewide, teams facing 0-2 deficits come back to win those series only about 14% of the time.
There are no magic words to say now, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Thursday.
“If there was, you would have said it two games ago, right? We’re not holding back any gems,” Maurice said. “That’s probably the most important thing that you realize. We went on the road and lost two one-goal games. Our game’s not perfect. Neither is theirs. So, you’re looking for an adjustment to foundation more than an adjustment to something unusual.”
Over in the West, where Dallas stuck first in Winnipeg with a 3-2 win, Rantanen is indeed doing something unusual – lots of things that are unusual, actually.
He’s the third player in NHL playoff history to have a hat trick in back-to-back games: Jari Kurri for Edmonton in 1985 and Doug Bentley for Chicago in 1944 are the others. He’s had a hand in each of Dallas’ last 12 goals, a streak unmatched by any player on any team in playoff history. He’s the first player in playoff history with at least eight goals and six assists in a four-game span. The first player with two three-goal periods in the same postseason. And on, and on, and on.
“Let’s see how long he can run this for,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “He’s rolling. He’s feeling it. Pretty impressive, what he’s doing. I mean, considering the opponent and the time of year and how he’s dominating games, really impressive.”
(Series tied 1-1)
▶ Game 1: Carolina 2-1 (OT)
▶ Game 2: Washington 3-1
▶ Game 3: Saturday at Carolina, 6
▶ Game 4: Monday, May 12 at Carolina, 7
▶ Game 5: x-Thursday, May 15 at Washington, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Saturday, May 17 at Carolina, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Monday, May 19 at Washington, TBA
(Toronto leads 2-0)
▶ Game 1: Toronto 5-4
▶ Game 2: Toronto 4-3
▶ Game 3: Friday at Florida, 7
▶ Game 4: Sunday at Florida, 7:30
▶ Game 5: Wednesday, May 14 at Toronto, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Friday, May 16 at Florida, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday, May 18 at Toronto, TBA
(Dallas leads 1-0)
▶ Game 1: Dallas 3-2
▶ Game 2: Friday at Winnipeg, 9:30
▶ Game 3: Sunday at Dallas, 4:30
▶ Game 4: Tuesday, May 13 at Dallas, 8
▶ Game 5: x-Thursday, May 15 at Winnipeg, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Saturday, May 17 at Dallas, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Monday, May 19 at Winnipeg, TBA
(Edmonton leads 1-0)
▶ Game 1: Edmonton 4-2
▶ Game 2: Thursday at Vegas, 9:30
▶ Game 3: Saturday at Edmonton, 9
▶ Game 4: Monday, May 12 at Edmonton, 9:30
▶ Game 5: x-Wednesday, May 14 at Vegas, TBA
▶ Game 6: x-Friday, May 16 at Edmonton, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday, May 18 at Vegas, TBA
x-If necessary
