RALEIGH, North Carolina – Chris Kreider completed a third-period hat trick to give the New York Rangers a 5-3 win and eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six games in the second round on Thursday. at PNC Arena.
Trailing 1-3, the Rangers saw Kreider score three straight goals to turn things around. On the sequence leading to the winning net, Ryan Lindgren went around the Hurricanes net before giving it to the hero of the game, who scored with a one-timer in front of the net.
Barclay Goodrow then ended Carolina’s hopes by sending the puck into an empty cage with 49 seconds left.
“We have confidence in each other,” said Rangers captain Jacob Trouba. “We developed that over time. We know what is at stake and we have an incredible chance of achieving our objective. We wanted to finish this series tonight after dropping Game 5 in New York, and after two periods, we knew we had time left to go for the victory. Several guys took their game up a notch. »
Kreider first reduced the gap to a goal 6:43 into the period, when he found the opening near the right post.
“Obviously, this goal hurt us. We knew it wasn’t supposed to happen to us,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “You can’t give this team a goal, and we gave them a few. »
Less than six minutes later, the American forward deflected a point shot from Artemi Panarin on the power play to tie the game.
“It was a monster third period,” said Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. “Kreider put the team on his back and delivered. This victory is not only his, but at the end of the day, he had to score goals and that’s what he managed to do. »
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, while Igor Shesterkin blocked 33 shots. In the Eastern final, the Rangers will face the winners of the series between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers. The Panthers currently have a 3-2 lead.
In the Hurricanes camp, who had avoided elimination twice in the last few days, Sebastian Aho collected two points and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead with 1:22 left in the opening period when Jordan Martinook skillfully served Martin Necas, whose one-timer fooled Shesterkin.
Rod Brind’Amour’s squad then doubled its lead at 4:38 of the second period. Jarvis pushed the loose puck to the semicircle to complete a play started by Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.
Less than a minute later, after an unsuccessful restart attempt by Dmitry Orlov, Trocheck put the Rangers on the board, also deflecting a Panarin shot.
Aho then spun past Shesterkin alone before slotting the puck into the top of the net at 9:23. The Hurricanes then regained a priority of two goals, a priority which would disappear in the last third.
