5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers 2, Hurricanes 1 (OT)

RALEIGH, N.C. --The longer a game goes, the more comfortable these Cats get.

Improving to 6-0 in overtime in the playoffs, Matthew Tkachuk deposited a feed from Sam Reinhart on the power play at 1:51 of the extra frame to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 win and 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

"We just keep doing what we do in the regular time," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We play hard. We got the power play, and the power play was kind of due. A nice one there."

On an historic postseason run, the Panthers have won nine of their last 10 games.

By taking two games at PNC Arena, they also pushed their road winning streak to eight games.

"We're a confident group no matter where we're playing," Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. "We've been really good on the road. I don't think there's anything much to that. We're just a confident group right now. I think we're going to continue staying that confident."

Just two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers will carry that confidence back to South Florida for Games 3 and 4 at FLA Live Arena on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

"We're happy to go back home," Barkov said. "We're in a good situation. We're exactly where we want to be. We're ready to get back home and play in front of our own fans. That building gets really loud, too. I'm really excited to see that and hear that."

For a quick recap of Game 2, click HERE.

To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. WEATHERING THE STORM

The Hurricanes had a head full of steam to start Game 2.

After Tkachuk fired the first shot on goal of the game for the Panthers, the next 20 belonged to the Hurricanes, including the opening goal from Jalen Chatfield that put Carolina up 1-0 at 1:43.

Standing tall, Sergei Bobrovsky kept the Panthers in the fight with 19 saves.

"I'm actually OK with the start because you have to expect it," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Carolina's initial push. "They're the No. 2 team in the NHL. … We just played seven periods of hockey. You're not controlling the game. In the part of the game they controlled, we fed a bit of it and there's some things we can do better, but for the most part we held water. Then with eight minutes left in the period we got back to our game a little bit."

Indeed they did.

Feeding off Bobrovsky's big saves, the Panthers got off the mat, dusted themselves off and began to really push back just past the midway point of the first period. Starting with a tipped shot from Bennett at 13:08, they went on to close out the period on a 10-0 run in shots.

As it has been all playoffs, the Panthers once again showed they can take a punch.

"We didn't start off great, and he allowed us the time we needed to get going," Tkachuk said of Bobrovsky's early heroics. "We knew he was going to hold the fort for us. We don't want to get into the habit. But even if it took us half the game to get going, we knew he was going to stand there and make all the saves to keep it a one-goal game or keep us in reach, and he did that."

2. THE BOB SHOW

The first period was just Part 1 of another epic performance from Bobrovsky.

Extending his streak of giving up two-or-fewer goals to seven games, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner finished with 37 saves in Game 2. During that unbelievable seven-game run, he's posted a 6-1-0 record while turning aside 264 of 277 shots for a stellar .953 save percentage.

"It's a big win for us," Bobrovsky said. "I'm fortunate to be here and happy to play hockey, playoff hockey. [The Hurricanes] have an unbelievable team. They're very structural and they're a very strong team. Again, I just want to thank God for the opportunity, for the result and for this body."

Going 13-for-14 against shots from high-danger areas, Bobrovsky's biggest stop of the game occurred in the second period when he somehow managed to slide over to his right just in time to rob Teuvo Teravainen on a re-direct with a blocker save that sent jaws to the floor.

Humble as ever, Bobrovsky said he "got lucky" on the save.

Of course, he has more than enough teammates willing to talk him up.

"He's just incredible," Barkov said. "Every game, every day, people are talking about him, and he deserves even more than that. He's been our team's backbone."

Per MoneyPuck.com, Bobrovsky has saved 17.3 goals above expected.

That's nearly 10 more than the next-highest goaltender on the list.

3. PRAISE FROM NO. 99

It takes a lot to impress someone known as "The Great One."

Yet, Barkov managed to do just that with his eye-popping goal in Game 2.

Setting social media ablaze, the Cats captain tied the game and turned heads when he collected a pass from Josh Mahura, got Antti Raanta to do a full split and bite on a between-the-legs fake, and then roofed a shot into the cage off his backhand to make it 1-1 in the second period.

"One of the greatest moves I've seen," Gretzky said on the TNT broadcast.

Although he appreciated the compliment, Barkov was confident that the NHL's all-time leading scorer and four-time Stanley Cup champion had surely scored some goals in his career that trumped his latest highlight.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's scored bigger goals," said Barkov, whose eyes grew big when he was told about Gretzky's high praise. "It means a lot coming from him. It's nice to hear, for sure."

When asked for his thoughts on the goal, Maurice said he'd never seen anything like it.

"He's the least showboating player I've ever coached by far," said Maurice, who has more than two decades in the NHL to draw from. "Most times he scores, you kind of expect him to skate by the goalie, tap him on the pads and say, 'Sorry about that.' But he pulled that move because that was the only move that was going to work. There's no one-upmanship or showmanship in that man. It's just not in him. So when it went through his legs and he decided it wasn't going to go, he made the best move he could."

Finding the back of the net in each of the first two games of the series, Barkov is now tied with Ray Sheppard and Dave Lowry for the second-most playoff goals in franchise history with 10.

4. BUS IN 10

There's now two ways to tell that it's time to leave a place.

1. The song "Closing Time" by Semisonic starts to play.

2. Tkachuk scores in overtime.

Providing the heroics for the second straight game, Tkachuk broke the hearts of Hurricanes fans in overtime when he finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Bennett and Reinhart on the power play by firing a shot past Raanta to secure the 2-1 win for the Panthers.

Immediately after scoring, Tkachuk headed off the ice and to the locker room.

"Just the old 'Bus in 10' celebration, the 'Let's get out of here,'" smiled Tkachuk, who pulled the same move after ending the quadruple overtime marathon in Game 1. "It's been a lot of hockey the last few days. It's great to celebrate with the guys in the locker room. Great to end it early."

His third overtime goal of the playoffs, Tkachuk is tied with Corey Perry (3 in 2017), Maurice Richard (3 in 1951) and Mel Hill (3 in 1939) for the most in a single playoff year in NHL history.

Earning at least one point in 11 of the last 14 games, Tkachuk has also set a new franchise record for most points in a single playoff run with 18. The previous record was held by Dave Lowry, who racked up 17 points during Florida's run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.

"He's been huge for us," Barkov said of Tkachuk, a finalist for the Hart Trophy this season. "It's not just scoring goals, not just making plays. It's everything about being a hockey player, being a leader on the team. He's been doing everything as good as possible. He's just unbelievable."

5. PK STANDS TALL

After giving up two goals in Game 1, the penalty kill was perfect for the Panthers in Game 2.

Going 3-for-3, the biggest kill for the Panthers came when the Hurricanes were sent to the power play with 6:27 left in regulation in a 1-1 game. Standing their ground, the Panthers had several clutch clears while surrendering just one shot on goal on the ensuing penalty kill.

Overall, Florida limited Carolina to just four shots on goal over three power plays.

"The PK was great," Bobrovsky said. "The guys were really aggressive. The sticks were great, the box-outs. All those little things that you don't really think and appreciate, I appreciate them and I see them."

If the Panthers can stay as strong as they have been at 5-on-5 while also continuing to get clutch kills, the Hurricanes will likely be in trouble. At 5-on-5 in the series, Florida currently leads 4-1 in goals, 73-65 in scoring chances and 40-39 in high-danger shot attempts.