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There were so many streaks up in the air heading into Monday’s showdown between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers.
The Hurricanes had never lost a Game 7 since their move to Carolina, going a perfect 6-0 and had not lost at home in the playoffs as they were 7-0 heading into Monday’s contest.
The Rangers, on the other hand, were a perfect 4-0 in elimination games in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, winning three in a row over Pittsburgh after trailing three games to one and defeated Carolina on Saturday to even the series at 3.
What would give?
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NEW YORK RANGERS 6 CAROLINA 2 (New York wins the best-of-seven series 4-3)
Well, it won’t be a battle of the storms as the Lightning and Hurricanes will not meet in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Rangers saw to that as they defeated Carolina by a score of 6-2 to win their fifth straight elimination game this season in the post-season.
It was another outstanding effort by New York netminder Igor Shesterkin who turned aside 37 shots in picking up his eighth win of the playoffs. He was especially outstanding against the Hurricanes in the seven-game series as he gave up only 12 goals on 234 shots as he won four of the last five games of the series.
Shesterkin was as cold as ice as he calmly stopped shot after shot in the first two periods, stopping all 28 shots as the Rangers led 3-0 after two periods.
Adam Fox got the Rangers started in the first with a power play goal. After not scoring on the power play during the regular season (he did have 33 assists), Fox has scored twice in the playoffs with the man-advantage.
Fox then drew the secondary assist on Chris Kreider’s power play goal as he deftly tipped a Mika Zibanejad shot, as Antti Raanta had no chance to stop the puck.
Kreider’s goal came as the Hurricanes were assessed a minor for too many men on the ice. Seth Jarvis was trying to get off the ice after suffering an upper-body injury but was unable to in time as the Hurricanes had six skaters on the ice. Jarvis’ injury was significant enough as he did not return.
Ryan Strome made it 3-0 late in the second period, beating Pyotr Kochetkov as Antti Raanta was forced to leave 42 seconds earlier as he suffered a lower-body injury. Raanta was helped off the ice and did not return, leaving the Hurricanes to play their third-string netminder.
Kreider, with his second of the game, made it 4-0 just 3:59 into the third while Vincent Trocheck got the Hurricanes closer, as he scored his sixth of the playoffs with a power play goal.
But Filip Chytil scored just 40 seconds later to suck the rest of the air out of the Carolina arena, to make it 5-1.
Max Domi scored his third Game 7 goal this season but Andrew Copp scored into the empty net with 2:52 left in the game to complete the scoring.
Raanta stopped 16-of-18 shots before leaving the game while Kochetkov took the loss, giving up three goals on only 12 shots.
Zibanejad had three assists and is third in NHL scoring with 19 points, seven behind the Oilers dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Brady Skjei had five shots on goal and six hits while teammate DeAngelo also had five shots on net.
Nino Niederreiter slammed Ryan Lindgren into the end boards in the second and Lindgren needed help getting off the ice but was able to return to action quickly and ended up playing 20:18, going a plus-three with four blocked shots.
Jacob Trouba had four penalty minutes and five blocked shots as he was a stud defensively.
The win was a bonus for the Winnipeg Jets who get an upgrade to a first-round pick in the 2022 Draft as part of their deal with Andrew Copp going to New York was that the Jets would get their second-round pick but if the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Final, the pick would be upgraded to a first. It has been well worth it for New York as Copp has six goals and 12 points in 14 playoff games.
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NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Chris Kreider - 2
Assists
Mika Zibanejad - 3
Shots on Goal
Brady Skjei – 5
Tony DeAngelo - 5
Hits
Brady Skjei - 6
Penalty Minutes
Jacob Trouba - 4
