Carolina Hurricanes Avoid Sweep with 4-3 Victory Over New York Rangers in NHL Playoffs Game

Summary

The Carolina Hurricanes may not be as strong as it was at the beginning of the series, but it is still alive.

The Hurricanes scored four goals on Saturday night to post a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers and avoid a sweep in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Carolina will try to play the trick on the Rangers again in Game 5 on Monday night, played in New York.

Undoubtedly since the start of the streak, Igor Shesterkin has allowed four or more goals to his opponents for the first time in his last 31 playoff games. He finished the game with 27 saves.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen and Sebastian Aho all scored in the first period, and Brady Skjei played heroics in the final minutes of the third period to lead the Hurricanes to victory. Skjei’s goal was Carolina’s first on the power play since the series began.

After ending this drought is not very important, however, said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. At this time of year, all that matters is winning. »

Will Cuylle, Barclay Goodrow and Alexis Lafrenière provided Rangers’ response in the stoppage time. The Quebecer is having a good time with four goals in his last three games and has earned a total of 10 points since the beginning of the series, in eight games.

Rod Brind’Amour made the decision to return with Frederik Andersen in net and the decision paid off. He stopped 22 pucks to lead his team to victory.

Hurricanes offensive wakes up

With their backs against the wall, the Hurricanes had no choice but to have a strong start to the game and applied their strategy to the letter. After just 1:51 of play, Evgeny Kuznetsov fired a nice wrister at the entrance to the field to open the scoring with his third goal of the series.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Kuznetsov then violently rammed his stick into the bay window in front of some Rangers fans to celebrate his success.

Carolina came back a few minutes later, through his support players. With strong pressure applied in the frontcourt, Stefan Noesen got a loose puck in the slot, after a rebound, to double his team’s lead with a backhand shot.

“We were very aggressive,” Aho said. I would say it would have to be. It was a good start. We’re going to want to start like that again (in game five). »

“We got into trouble real quick (Saturday),” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. I don’t think it was a lack of preparation, but we have to do better than that. »

Obviously frustrated at the start of the game, the Rangers quickly realized that they had to pull themselves together to have a chance of going past the draw. Kaapo Kakko connected with Will Cuylle with a brilliant pass at center ice, then Cuylle cut the lead to 2-1 on a long shot with the first goal of his career in the playoffs.

The Hurricanes responded with just under five minutes left in the opening period, through Sebastian Aho. The forward found the perfect time to score his first goal of the series when a pass from Jake Guentzel allowed him to score from the slot and give the Hurricanes a two-goal lead again.

New York quickly had a good scoring opportunity early in the second period. Quebecer Alexis Lafrenière got a quick wrist shot, but the puck hit the post.

History repeated itself midway through the period, this time on an offensive threat from Alex Wennberg. The striker had beaten Frederik Andersen in a two-on-one, but hit the post.

In terms of volume, the Rangers were able to finally cut the gap a few minutes later. Barclay Goodrow redirected a Braden Schneider shot past Andersen to make it 3-2 with his second goal of the playoffs.

Carolina could have regained a two-goal lead in the closing seconds of the second period, but Igor Shesterkin won in front of Jake Guentzel’s shot on a two-to-none play.

With any luck, the Rangers tied the game just 2:04 into the third period. From behind the net, Alexis Lafrenière tried to bring the puck back to the slot. His delivery, however, hit the back of Andersen, before ending up in the back of the net.

With less than four minutes left in the third period, the Hurricanes made Ryan Lindgren pay dearly for his indiscipline. Brady Skjei hit a powerful slap shot to make it 4-3.

The Rangers tried their best to tie the score late in the game, but Carolina resisted.