Despite a slow start, the Carolina Hurricanes nabbed an overtime win against the New York Rangers in the first game of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on Wednesday, May 18.
Carolina struggled across the first and second periods of game one, and top players consistently underperformed — with the exception of goaltender Antti Raanta, who led the Canes for the bulk of the matchup.
After the Rangers’ overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday evening to advance, it became clear New York wouldn’t go down without a fight. Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is the player to beat for the Canes this series — a heavy favorite for the Vezina Trophy, the Moscow native is certainly going to be tough competition for Carolina’s offense.
The first set of penalties came a mere minute and a half into the first period. Right wing Nino Niederreiter was sent to the box for high sticking against New York defenseman Adam Fox. Twenty-seven seconds later, however, center Ryan Strome of the Rangers was penalized for tripping, cutting New York’s opportunity short.
The Rangers didn’t falter for long, though. Seven minutes into the first period, New York center Filip Chytil tucked away the first goal of the game and put the Canes behind for the first time at home in the playoffs. The Rangers were able to take advantage of the many holes in Carolina’s offense — the Hurricanes were hardly able to match New York’s physicality and skill in the first period, and the team as a whole seemed unfocused.
Carolina’s offense surely didn’t ramp up by the end of the first period, but the team had captured a couple more shots on goal, at least. Raanta was far and away the Canes’ star on the ice across the first 20 minutes of gameplay — without him, who knows what the goal difference could have been.
The second period was about as underwhelming for the Canes as the first. Carolina lacked offensive and defensive follow-through, mostly thanks to an apparent inability to keep the puck within the front line for more than a couple passes at a time. Although the second period ended up fairly uneventful — no penalties, no goals — it certainly wasn’t the revival Carolina desperately needed.
Some of the Hurricanes’ brightest stars were underperforming in a big way. Right-wing Andrei Svechnikov and centers Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis faltered on the front line, missing opportunities for a shot on goal left, right and center. Raanta continued to shine on the defensive end, keeping Carolina within one goal of a tied game.
Luckily, the Hurricanes stepped up their defense and offense early on in the third period. With 13 shot attempts within the first five minutes — a stellar improvement regarding the team’s offensive play up until that point — it seemed plausible that Carolina could tie things up, even as the period began to fly by.
“I think we started to put the pucks deep and actually got the forecheck going,” Raanta said. “The crowd got going, it was nice to see our guys get into our game and get chances.”
An incredibly close shot on goal from Niederreiter with about seven minutes left in the third period nearly erased Carolina’s deficit. Had Shesterkin been any closer to the goal, or if Niederreiter shot a couple inches lower, it might have been a different ending. As it was, the Rangers were closing in on a game one victory on Carolina’s turf.
Miraculously, fans’ prayers were answered after Aho finally tied up the game for Carolina with 2:23 left in regulation. After a nice pass from Jarvis, Shesterkin initially blocked Aho’s attempt on goal but didn’t make it back into the net in time to block the Hurricanes’ first goal of the game.
Three minutes and 12 seconds into overtime, defenseman Ian Cole wrapped up game one for Carolina thanks to a long pass from the Ann Arbor native. If fans were expecting a longer stint at PNC Arena, they can thank Cole and New York defenseman Ryan Lindgren for the short overtime period — Cole’s shot bounced right off of Lindgren’s stick, inevitably confusing Shesterkin and allowing a victory for the Canes.
“I had some extended zone time there, and Trocheck was up high and I was kind of down,” Cole said. “He shot it and it kind of bounced right to me … hockey’s a game of weird bounces, and it just happened to go in.”
The Hurricanes and the Rangers will face off again on Friday, May 20 at PNC Arena in Raleigh. Puck drops at 8 p.m.
