Hurricanes lose second straight game to Florida; Matthew Tkachuk scores winning goal again in OT

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Matthew Tkachuk finished a feed from Sam Reinhart at the 1:51 mark of overtime to help the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night for a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.

Less than two days after scoring the winner in a four-overtime thriller, Tkachuk came through again, this time on the power play after a faceoff win by the Panthers. Sam Bennett found Reinhart on the left side, who zipped the puck across to Tkachuk for the easy finish against a sprawled-out Antti Raanta.

Tkachuk immediately skated toward the door on the boards leading to the Florida locker room, motioning to his teammates that it was time to roll out and celebrate.

Just like that, Florida won on the road for the eighth straight time in the playoffs and improved to 6-0 in overtime in the postseason.

Aleksander Barkov had a highlight-reel goal for Florida in the second period, while Sergei Bobrovsky again befuddled Carolina with 37 stops.

Jalen Chatfield scored Carolina's lone goal on a deflection in the opening minutes, while Raanta finished with 24 saves.

Carolina is in the Eastern Conference final for the second time during a five-year playoff run, but the Hurricanes have now lost 10 straight games in this round going back to 2009.

"We've been through this," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's not new to us. We've been kicked in the teeth a lot these last few years and we've always responded, so I'm pretty sure we will the next game."

They're running out of time to recover. Florida has home-ice advantage for the next two games, starting Monday with Game 3.

Each team also had a goal overturned on a video-review challenge for an unpenalized offside while entering the zone leading up to the scores.

Matthew Tkachuk beat Frederik Andersen in the final seconds of the fourth overtime to give the Panthers a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes early Friday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.

Inside the Staal family drama at the Eastern Conference final

Editor's Note: The video clip is from a previous story.

Game 2 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

Remaining round 3 schedule

Game 3: Away, 8 p.m., Monday, May 22

Game 4: Away, 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 24

Game 5: Home, 8 p.m., Friday, May 26

Game 6: Away, 8 p.m., Sunday, May 28

Game 7: Home, 8 p.m., Tuesday, May 30