RALEIGH, N.C. — Even with Artemi Panarin’s game-winning goal Thursday night, the Rangers defeated Carolina 3-2 and held a commanding 3-0 series lead 1:43 into overtime. There wasn’t. This program.
The play that truly encapsulated just how special this Rangers team is and how egregious it was to upset Carolina in the second round of a playoff series occurred midway through the second period.
Chris Kreider broke up a play in the Rangers defensive zone on the Hurricanes’ power play, beating Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov with blows and separating them from the puck.
The next moment, Mika Zibanejad stole the puck from beyond the Carolina blue line, and the 33-year-old Kreider, who had been chasing the play after the hit, passed Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns.
There, Kreider took a work of art cross-ice feed from Zibanejad, the puck slid between Barnes and Jake Guentzel, and buried it past Carolina goaltender Piotr Kochetkov to end a game the Hurricanes were dominating. This is where we tied the score.
That play was special.
It was another special moment in what has already been an immeasurably special season for the Rangers, who won the Presidents Trophy and won the first seven games of this magical postseason.
The Rangers beat a desperate Hurricanes team because they put on a thorough clinic on special teams.
Rangers won Game 3 in overtime. Jason Suzens/New York Post
It was fitting to be positive that the most important play of this game, and perhaps this series, occurred on a short-handed goal.
“Special teams took over and that killed us,” Hurricanes manager Rod Brind’Amour said. “Our performance is not very good. [on the power play]And you have to give them credit — they do a great job at killing.
“We gave up on that short kid. [to Kreider] And I thought we strayed a little bit from what we were trying to do. It was like killing a group. This is 3 games in a row. Same story. That changed the game. ”
It defines the series.
The Rangers have dominated the Hurricanes not only on their own power play, but also on the penalty kill.
Carolina scored five points on 15 power plays in a 4-1 series win over the Islanders, but went into Thursday night’s game against the Rangers with 10 hits and zero points in the first two penalty kill games. was.
The Hurricanes, one of the best power play producers in the regular season, went 0-for-5 in Game 3 and 0-for-15 in the series.
The Rangers, on the other hand, have scored three shorthanded goals this postseason and have allowed only two power play goals. This would give them a plus-1 shortstop in seven postseason games, which is unprecedented.
“We got off to a great start and got killed on the power play,” Brind’Amour said in a television interview between the second and third periods. “They took advantage of that. They’re highly skilled.”
Special skill.
special special teams.
please think about it. In the series, the Hurricanes outscored the Rangers evenly, 7 to 6.
