RALEIGH, NC (AP) – Nothing worries these New York Rangers, or a multi-game series deficit or playing in a building where no road team has won the Stanley Cup playoffs.
On the other hand, this resilient group has a growing confidence directly in the Eastern Conference finals, thanks to another victory in the 7th game and the last good performance of possibly the best goalkeeper in the game.
Chris Kreider scored twice, Igor Shesterkin was strong again on the net and the Rangers ended Carolina’s perfect postseason run at home, defeating the Hurricanes 6-2 in the decisive Game 7 of their series. of the second round playoffs Monday night.
Kreider and Adam Fox had power-play goals in the first period as the Rangers advanced quickly. The Rangers then mounted Shesterkin’s last offensive performance to earn a fifth straight playoff victory in those playoffs.
“He now faces the wall five times,” Fox said, “and we’re over five.”
Shesterkin, a finalist in both the Vezina Trophy for the best goalkeeper in the league and the Hart Trophy for the most valuable player, finished with 36 stops and took the whiteness well into the third period.
Now, the Rangers are heading to a conference final for the first time since 2015, winning a showdown with two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay. New York will host the first game of this series on Wednesday night.
Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil also scored in what turned out to be an unexpected thrashing, with Andrew Copp adding an empty net late. More impressively, the Rangers ’victory came on a field where the Hurricanes had gone 7-0 in the playoffs, including a 7th game win to beat Boston in the first round and three clashes in that series.
New York coach Gerard Gallant said Sunday that he had a group of players who “have a lot of fun and believe in themselves.” It looked like they were doing a lot of things on Monday to finish a second straight win over a multi-match deficit.
First, they bounced back from a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh in a seven-game series. Then, after falling into a 0-2 hole against Carolina, New York responded with more resistance, even a stubborn refusal to fade away when it was falling.
Kreider went so far as to make a comparison with the “cockroaches.”
“We’re not going to get away with it, regardless of the scoreboard, no matter where our game is,” Kreider said.
There were no questions about that Monday night, especially with Shesterkin facing 17 shots from the first period. This included a back stop to Sebastian Aho near the right post, with Shesterkin sticking the puck between his legs shaking, as if trying to make a snow angel at the end of the first period.
The Rangers also helped by blocking 25 shots in front of him.
“You have to pay a price to win games in this league, especially against really good teams like this,” Gallant said. “I love the way ours compete and fight. I’ve said 100 times this year, we’re not perfect, but we find ways to win.”
Tony DeAngelo finally beat Shesterkin in the middle of the third period, only to see the Rangers continue with Chytil’s goal just 40 seconds later to push the margin to 5-1.
Max Domi also scored a goal at the end of the Hurricanes.
But Carolina lost new front-line striker Seth Jarvis to a first-period injury after a Jacob Trouba high hit, and then lost goalkeeper Antti Raanta to an apparent right leg injury in the second. period on a hard night. Raanta made 16 stops before his injury, while debutant Pyotr Kochetkov allowed three goals in 12 relay shots.
“Tonight was a kind of bounce, not everyone was there at all, myself included,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “An unfortunate way to end the series, the season.”
Carolina’s playoff success had relied on her home ice advantage, backed by a boisterous crowd. But his inability to win a single road game in the postseason only reduced the Hurricanes ’margin of error and made victory at home an absolute necessity to keep playing.
As a result, the first and only stumble at home proved fatal, an overwhelming end to a season in which the division winner, with the third-best record in the NHL, set regular season win records (54 ) and points (116). ) with aspirations of winning his second Cup.
“It’s definitely a shame to have the team, the caliber of the team, that we did,” Carolina defender Jaccob Slavin said, “and not go any further.”
WITHOUT FIRST
The Hurricanes have been 6-0 in Game 7 since the former Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997. They were trying to become the first team in NHL history to win seven games in a row.
Carolina was also trying to become the first to win multiple sets to the best of seven in the same postseason with zero road wins.
GAME ELIMINATION-PRODUCTION
When Fox scored and assisted on Kreider’s first goal, that pushed him to 10 points in the playoff games this postseason.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is what marks the most for a single-postseason defense, beating Ray Bourque in 1980, Ian Turnbull in 1976 and Denis Potvin in 1975.
CANNES WOUNDS
Jarvis was knocked out of the match with a blow from Trouba, which made him fall to the ice and could only crawl to the bench. When he got there, he was too hesitant to sit on the bench and needed the help of his classmates to be directed to the locker room.
To make matters worse, the Hurricanes took a penalty for too many men on the ice as they tried to replace Jarvis, resulting in Kreider’s first goal.
Ranta fell 4:23 late in the second period when he extended his right leg in a split to stop Mika Zibanejad. He almost advanced and fell face down on the ice. Finally, his teammates Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter helped him get off the ice, without putting any weight on his right leg.
Then coach Rod Brind’Amour said Raanta’s injury would have prevented him from playing the next set, if Carolina had won.