In Raleigh, it looked for all the world that the New York Rangers would be heading home, gripping their sticks to sawdust for a Saturday rematch with the Hurricanes in a Game 7 of their second round Stanley Cup Playoff series. 
The Rangers trailed 3-1 entering the third period, and it was not that close.
Whether they had ice in their veins, absence of panic, or true talent, they rallied on a natural hat trick by Chris Kreider in the third period to take a 4-3 lead in the third.
“There’s a belief in the room and a trust in the guys that’s been built over the time we’ve spent together here,” the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba said. “We know what’s on the line, we only get so many cracks at it. We wanted to end this thing tonight after letting it slip away in New York (in a 4-1 loss in Game 5 on Monday), so that was the focus. We knew we had one more period to get it done. A lot of guys stepped up big.”
Barclay Goodrow hit an empty net with less than a minute left on the game clock for a 5-3 final count on the scoreboard, and a 4-2 series win for the Rangers.
“It never really felt like we were out of it,” Kreider said. “We talk about being a resilient group and a competitive group. I think we showed that tonight.”
Kreider started his hat trick at 6:43 of the third, batting home the puck after it had been loosely trapped by Canes goalie Frederick Andersen at the right post. Kreider banged at the puck and it popped into the net for a 3-2 deficit.
“That is just a monster third period,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said of Kreider’s performance. “I mean, [Kreider] put it on his back and he really delivered. It was more than him, but at the end of the day we needed to score goals, and this is what he does and this is what he did tonight.”
On the power play, Artemi Panarin sent a shot toward the net form out near the near the blue line in the slot. Kreider tipped the pass in for a 3-3 tie and all the energy the Rangers missed for the first 40 minutes of the game.
Kreider collected his hats after Jack Roslovic left the puck for Ryan Lindgren along the left boards in the Canes’ zone, and then circled behind the Carolina net for a soft pass to Kreider camped at the left side of the crease for a ridiculously easy tap in, and the 4-3 lead, and game winner at at 15:41.
“Obviously, that goal was a tough one,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It just can’t happen, we know that. You can’t give a team like that a goal, and I thought we gave them a couple.”
Goodrow scored the icing with 49 seconds left.
Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves, settling down after surrendering three goals in the first two periods.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead with 1:22 left in the first period when made a backhand pass from behind the net to Martin Necas staked the Canes to a 1-0 lead with 82 seconds left in the opening stanza, scoring off a pass from Jordan Martinook from below the goal line, behind the net.
In the middle frame, the Hurricanes looked to have taken control of the game with a power play marker from Sebastian Aho at 4:38. He scored off a tip in of a shot from Andrei Svechnikov.
“We had chances to build the lead, but obviously we couldn’t do it,” Aho said. “Whoever scores a goal gets a little momentum, and they did a good job riding the momentum. It just didn’t go our way.”
Just 51 seconds later, Vincent Trocheck replied for New York with a tip in of a shot from Panarin above the left circle.
“You don’t really see him stress,” New York’s Mika Zibanejad said of Kreider. “Sometimes it feels like we don’t have much, but we don’t need much to get something going. He’s great with that for our line, to just keep calm, keep working and eventually it will come. I’m just really happy for him to be able to perform in a game like this, and also very thankful for that performance to come at the right time.”
The goal gave some life to the Rangers who trimmed the deficit to 2-1.
“There wasn’t a whole lot said after the second,” Trocheck said. “It’s just that we knew that wasn’t the way we needed to play in order to win hockey games in the playoffs. We just had to go out there and make a decision in the third period, and either show up and play and be a part of the series or don’t. I think we had 20 guys show up in the third.”
Just ahead of the midway point of the second, Aho seemly twisted the dagger in the Rangers with a goal off an odd man rush. He went with Jake Guentzel, but the kept the puck for the shot.
It was not easy down the stretch. Shesterkin was asked to make several highlight reel saves including on Svechnikov from the right side down low.
Andersen made made 19 saves in the loss.
“It definitely hurts. You don’t want to give them life,” Andersen said. “I thought I had it covered and I wasn’t able to get my glove down on it. A mistake. Tough timing for that. We weren’t able to bounce back this time.”
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