Once again the New York Rangers did the unthinkable and ended Carolina’s perfect postseason run at home, beating the Hurricanes 6-2 in the decisive Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal. The win capped off another stirring series comeback where New York rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits for a 1-2(OT), 0-2, 3-1, 4-1, 1-3, 5-2, 6-2 seven game series victory.
As per usual game 7’s come down to goaltending, and Igor Shesterkin shined the brightest once again for the Blueshirts just as he did in the previous series against Pittsburg. The netminder almost single-handily won the previous three games for the Rangers with the volume of shots he turned aside from the vigorous Hurricanes who peppered him with 37 shots in game 7, and 235 shots in the series, only scoring 13 times for a save % accumulating to .944 over the seven game encounter.
Chris Kreider and Adam Fox had first-period power-play goals as the Rangers raced to a quick lead putting the stat that whoever scored first wins 75% of game 7’s in their favor. The Rangers then rode Shesterkin’s latest heroics in his first playoffs, to win a fifth straight elimination game dating back to the 3-1 comeback against the Penguins in the previous round. Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil also scored in what became an unexpected rout, with Andrew Copp adding a late empty-netter, also giving his old team the Winnipeg Jets the Rangers 2022 first round pick as part of their trade deadline agreement back in March should New York make the conference final and Copp played in 50% of the games.
New York advances to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2015, falling to the organization they’ll face now, earning a matchup with two-time defending Stanley Cup champion in the Tampa Bay Lightning. New York will host Game 1 of that “Champ Vs Cinderella” series Wednesday night by virtue of their 44-39 edge in regulation wins during the regular season with the two garnering 110 points apiece in the 82 game appetizers. The Rangers will be heavy underdogs, as they face a Tampa team who’ve not only won 10 straight series, but are also in peak form having swept the Presidents trophy winning Florida Panthers 4-1, 2-1, 5-1, 2-0 in round two, and currently contain who Shesterkin lauded as the “Best goalie in the world” in former Vezina and reigning conn Smythe winner, Andrei Vasilevskiy. But if there’s one team that can dethrone the kings of the league, it’s these young, vibrant and upstart Rangers who are by far the youngest of the four teams(Colorado Avalanche who bested the Blues in six and the Edmonton Oilers who won the battle of Alberta in five, Bolts and NYR) left in the tournament led by the “Kid line” who are an average age of 21.
The Hurricanes were hampered by losing goaltender Freddy Andreson late in regular season and backup Antti Raanta as well as top-line rookie forward Seth Jarvis to injury midway through game 7.
Jarvis took a jarring high hit in the first period from Jacob Trouba and Raanta went down went down with what was ultimately a non-contact MCL tear. while stretching out his right leg for a stop in the second. Neither returned to the game.
Raanta had 16 saves and posted an impressive .922 save % in this series before his injury, while a cold rookie Pyotr Kochetkov allowed three goals on 12 shots in relief.
More impressively, the Rangers’ win came in an arena where the Hurricanes had gone 12-0 dating back to the end of the regular season, and 7-0 in the playoffs, including games 1, 2, and 5 in this series. What did Carolina in was that for some reason, they weren’t able to replicate the 25-12-4 road success they had in the regular season, becoming the first team to go 0-6 on the road in the playoffs against the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers.
Vincent Trochek finally beat Igor in “garbage time” in the third with the Canes down 4-0, tipping a Tony DeAngelo shot home to make it 4-1. midway through the third period. And in a sign of what kind of night it was, the Rangers followed with Chytil’s goal just 40 seconds later to push the margin to 5-1.
Max Domi also scored a late goal for the Hurricanes in front of a screened Igor to make it 5-2 before Copp’s emty net capper .
It was a rough night all around for Carolina as the team they spent all season playing “keep away” from atop
the Metropolitan division standings, and dominated in their regular season meetings tormented them when it mattered, sending them and six former Rangers in Raanta, Deanglao, Jesper Fast, Brendan Smith, Brady Skeji, and 2015 round 2 game 7 hero Derek Stepan to a fourth straight playoff exit.
In a way, everything came full circle for New York as there three games sweep in three games
at the hands of Carolina in the 2020 bubble, led to them winning the lottery and the NO1 overall pick, and selecting Alexis Lafrenrie, part of that “Kid line” who helped alter this playoff series two years later. Want some hizuk? Everything happens for a reason even if you can’t see it right away.
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