Chris Kreider scored three goals in the third period as the resilient Rangers earned another comeback victory in beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3, in Game 6 of their second-round series in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Rangers, who had led the series, 3-0, before losing consecutive games, closed out the Canes, 4-2, to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s the Blueshirts’ fifth trip to the Conference Finals since 2011-12.
Kreider’s hat trick was the first of his career in the playoffs. His final goal, the winner, came with 4:19 remaining in the game. Barclay Goodrow added an empty-net goal with 48.1 seconds left for the Rangers, who trailed, 3-1, entering the third period.
Here are the takeaways…
-The Rangers have thrived in comeback situations this year. They led the NHL with 28 regular-season comeback wins, including 14 when they trailed in the third period, and they’ve now added five more in the playoffs. The 33 combined comeback wins are the most in team history and they are the fourth team in the last 30 years to have at least 32 combined comeback wins in one season.
-Carolina took a 1-0 lead with a late goal in the first period, scoring with 1:22 left. Jordan Martinook had the puck behind the net and fed a wide-open Martin Necas, who roofed his shot over Igor Shesterkin’s glove. The goal came shortly after the Rangers had been buzzing around the Carolina net, with the Alexis Lafrenière-Vincent Trocheck-Artemi Panarin line creating some havoc, but with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard or the stat sheet. Overall in the first, the Canes outshot the Rangers, 8-3, though Carolina also blocked 10 Ranger shot attempts. The Blueshirts had some chances, particularly when Trocheck was alone in front of the net and got the puck from Panarin, but Trocheck couldn’t get anything on his shot and it was harmless.
-After two periods, Carolina had built its lead to 3-1. The Rangers got a power play early in the period but quickly squandered the man advantage when Kreider was whistled for slashing 43 seconds later. After 4-on-4 play ended, the Canes capitalized on their own power play, when Seth Jarvis, perched to Shesterkin’s right, hammered in a loose puck. The Blueshirts answered quickly when Trocheck re-directed a Panarin shot for his sixth goal of the playoffs. The assist was Panarin’s first point in three games. But any momentum the Rangers got from the tally didn’t last too long. Sebastian Aho got loose on a breakaway, sprung by a chip pass from Andrei Svechnikov and beat Shesterkin on the glove side to give Carolina a two-goal lead again.
-Twice in the second period the Canes made superlative defensive plays to thwart the Rangers. With 6:47 left in the second, Kreider made a nice feed to free Ryan Lindgren on a breakaway and Lindgren’s shot trickled through Andersen’s pads, heading for the goal line. But Martinook reached his stick into the goal to prevent the puck from completely clearing the goal line, which it must do to be considered a goal. The play will live on in highlights for years. Then with about four minutes left, Jalen Chatfield wrecked a Panarin breakaway with a well-timed stick check.
-In the third period, the Canes seemed to have all the momentum early with Martinook hitting the crossbar and, a few minutes later, Jake Guentzel hitting the post with 15:21 left. But the Rangers scored to pull within one goal with 13:17 remaining. Mika Zibanejad shot the puck at Andersen from the right side and Andersen made a save but the puck was left sitting at his left skate. Before Andersen could try to freeze it, Kreider swatted at it, knocking it in. Then Kreider scored the equalizer with 9:02 left on the power play on a tip-in of a Panarin shot. The goal ended an 0-for-9 slide on the power play for the Rangers. Later in the period, Kreider scored again, his seventh goal of the playoffs so far, to give the Blueshirts their first lead of the night. It also gave him a natural hat trick.
-Late in the game, Shesterkin made a game-saving stop with his pad, stopping Svechnikov on a clean look. Shesterkin stopped 33-of-36 shots.
GAME MVP: Chris Kreider
Naturally. He recorded the 16th hat trick in Rangers playoff history and the first one since Derick Brassard did it in 2015.
Highlights
What’s next
The Rangers will await the winner of the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers before starting the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden.
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