It was buried. Hidden beneath the 10 points of the Rangers’ top six teams, the latest reminder that Artemi Panarin’s 120 regular season points were no fluke, and most of all, the garden jumbo symbolizing a 1-0 series. Numbers 4 and 3 lit up on Tron. lead.
The Blueshirts stopped the Hurricanes from taking a shot on Igor Shesterkin on Sunday afternoon. Through his first two periods he played only 12 matches. 25 pieces in total. Shesterkin, a former Vezina Trophy winner tasked with leading the Rangers to the 16 wins needed to win the Stanley Cup, didn’t have to carry the Rangers to victory in Game 1, especially in the late moments when the Hurricanes pulled away. there were. He is the team’s goalkeeper, and when he needed to show his true form, he narrowed the gap from two goals to one.
When the final horn rang, Shesterkin was the first Rangers goaltender to win his first five postseason starts since Mike Richter (in 1994, of course) and only three in history, including Dave Carr in 1937. He became one of the His playoff streak was three. His record of fewer than a goal was extended to 28 consecutive games.
Sunday’s 60 minutes provided the latest glimpse into what makes the Rangers a tough group to eliminate in the best-of-seven series. After going through a lengthy 5-on-5 goal drought during the regular season, Mika Zibanejad scored twice, once on the power play and once at even strength. After shooting a whopping 37.5 percent in the opener, the Blueshirts used the man advantage to go a perfect 2-for-2. Panarin added to his magical season by firing a shot past Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen in the third period for the eventual victory.
