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Home ice had been a major theme of Rangers-Hurricanes, where the team in its own barn had won every game. But the Blueshirts razed their house of horrors Monday night, thumping Carolina in Carolina to take Game 7 of their second-round series, 6-2.
The Rangers, who were down, 2-0 and 3-2 in this series, now advance to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Tampa Bay Lightning, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. It’s their first trip to the ECF since losing to Tampa Bay in 2015.
The Hurricanes had been 7-0 at PNC Arena until Monday, when the Rangers got two goals from Chris Kreider and one apiece from Adam Fox, Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil. Andrew Copp added an empty net goal with 2:52 left. Mika Zibanejad had three assists.
Igor Shesterkin was terrific in goal again, stopping 37 of 39 shots.
Here are the takeaways:
- The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the first period – they had only scored two goals in the previous three games in Carolina. And both goals came on the power play, giving them two consecutive games with two power-play goals. Fox, who has points in 12 of the 14 playoff games, scored the first goal at 3:40 with just two seconds remaining in the Rangers’ man advantage. The second goal came with 12:00 left in the first on a tip-in by Kreider off a pass that looked like a shot from Zibanejad. Kreider, all alone in front, got his stick on the puck and also lifted his right leg so his skate wouldn’t impede the puck.
- Seconds after the Kreider goal, Shesterkin robbed Teuvo Teravainen in front with a kick save with his left pad, another highlight in a nifty first period for the Rangers goalie. He made a couple of early saves that seemed to galvanize the Rangers and when Carolina exerted big pressure as the period dwindled, he made several terrific saves, including while on his back on the ice. In all, Shesterkin made 18 saves in the first period alone.
- Jacob Trouba has delivered some thunderous hits during the playoffs and Game 7 was no different. He hit Seth Jarvis in the first period that knocked the Carolina rookie out of the game. ESPN reported that Jarvis would not return because of an upper-body injury. Jarvis actually was slow getting off the ice after absorbing the hit and Carolina put too many men on the ice and got whistled for the penalty that resulted in the Kreider goal.
- Ryan Lindgren got hit with a hard check by Nino Niederreiter with 12:58 left in the second period and was in pain as he left the ice and returned to the locker room. Lindgren was back on the ice shortly, however.
- Carolina goalie Antti Raanta was injured with 4:23 remaining in the second period when he went to stretch to stop Zibanejad. There was no contact, but Raanta went down onto his stomach, appearing to injure his right leg. The Canes PR Twitter account announced it as a lower-body injury. He was helped off the ice and replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov, the Canes’ third-string goalie who had replaced Raanta when Raanta faltered in Game 6.
- Kochetkov was tested immediately, making a save on Strome. But, moments later, Strome skated in on a two-on-one and fired a shot past the goalie, over his right pad. It was Strome’s second goal of the playoffs and gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead. Strome hadn’t tallied in 12 games before Monday night.
- Kreider scored his second goal on a breakaway with 16:01 remaining in the third. He flicked a backhand up as the goalie went low, notching his eighth goal of the playoffs. It was his 15th goal in an elimination game in his career, the most of any active player and one shy of Mark Messier’s all-time record.
- Shesterkin got caught behind the net with around 12 minutes left and Carolina missed a solid try on the power play. Seconds after that chaos, however, Tony DeAngelo, the ex-Ranger, scored to give the Canes a glimmer.
- Chytil crushed most Carolina hope just 40 seconds later, though. Carolina had a turnover at the blue line and Chytil had not cleared the zone yet. He corralled the puck and wristed it through Kochetkov’s five-hole for a 5-1 Ranger lead. It was Chytil’s third goal in the last two games and his fifth of the playoffs. He had eight goals during the entire regular season.
- Max Domi scored with 3:47 left to pull Carolina within 5-2.
-Not really a surprise, but Rangers coach Gerard Gallant started the same group as he did in Game 6. Why not? That worked. It was Tyler Motte, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves at forward, K’Andre Miller and Trouba on defense and Shesterkin in goal.
- Entering Monday night, teams that scored first in a Game 7 had a .751 winning percentage in NHL Playoffs history.
