In New York, Artemi Panarin scored his first goal of the Rangers second round series with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. His goal gave the the Rangers a 5-2 lead in the third period, and snuffed out any thought of a rally from the Canes.
Panarin’s goal came off the power play, the Rangers’ second of the night.
The Rangers won Game 6, 5-2, to force a Game 7 in Raleigh on Monday night.
Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves in the Rangers win.
Shesterkin also had two assists in the win.
“Well, tonight was definitely an important game,” Shesterkin said. “We had to win and that’s what we did. On the two assists, honestly I think it was mostly the guys who did all the work. I just left them the puck and they delivered on what they had to do.”
Brady Skjei and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Hurricanes.
Filip Chytil hit for a double in the New York win.
“It feels good,” Chytil said. “… I tried to keep shooting every time there’s a chance, and obviously many times in these playoffs even when we don’t score a goal or it doesn’t go to the net and they block it, we still get chances off these shots when we are first on the puck and we can keep possession.”
New York’s Tyler Motte scored in the first period on a wrist shot from the high slot after taking the puck in the defensive zone. The goal was unassisted.
Mika Zibanejad scored off the power play in the first period for a 2-0 lead to the Blueshirts.
“They got a couple of power-play goals, we didn’t,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s also the difference in the game. We had a good power-play start. A lot of good opportunities there. Again, got to find a way to get those in.”
Chytil pushed the lead to 3-0 early in the middle frame.
Skjei got the Canes on the board for a 3-1 score.
“We’re going to try and scrap this game,” Skjei said. “Move on past. We did obviously the same exact thing in the first round with the wins and losses at home, on the road. It’s obviously right now a little frustrating that we couldn’t close it out, but we’ll forget about this pretty quickly and we have a lot of confidence at home like our record shows. We are excited and we’ll be ready to go on Monday.”
Barclay Goodrow returned the Rangers lineup after missing games since Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“We have to find a way to win the game and just play how we play at home,” Chytil said. “I know they have good fans, they have the building over there where they’re used to, but we have to play hard, we have to play our game and don’t focus on any other thing. Just focus on the game and I think we can win the game.”
Chytil scored again in the second period on a backhand for a 4-1 advantage.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of his team’s performance. “I knew we’d come out hard and play well. It was a competitive game. We jumped on them early, got a couple-goal lead, so that was key. … The three games in Carolina were different type of games than the three games in New York. Why? I don’t know. We open it up, get more scoring chances, but we also give up more. I ask them to play the same way every night.”
Shesterkin is the fifth goalie in NHL history to record two assists in one game. Pekka Rinne was the last, in 2017.
Trocheck got the Canes within 4-2 before the end of the second period.
Antti Raanta got the start for the Hurricanes , he made 10 saves and yielded three goals before getting the hook in the middle frame. The Rangers had a 3-0 lead when he left the ice.
Pyotr Kochetkov replaced Raanta in the game and made 10 saves, surrendering two goals.
“Game 7s are Game 7s,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously it’s a big match and we are comfortable [at home], but we’re going to need everyone. It’s not easy. From the goalie all the way out, everyone’s going to have to show up and be ready to battle and obviously be sharp in our details and our puck battles and all that stuff.”
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