The Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers in game 2 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday, May 20 in PNC Arena. Friday evening’s play was highlighted by much-improved offense and defense.

On Wednesday evening, the Hurricanes pulled off a 2-1 OT win over the Rangers despite a largely underwhelming first two periods. Carolina’s play was disappointing for the first 40 minutes of gameplay, faltering offensively and defensively before the team finally picked up some speed to tie up the game and ultimately score the game-winning OT goal.

12 minutes into the first period of game 2, defenseman Tony DeAngelo was sent to the box for slashing against New York center Andrew Copp. Although the Rangers had plenty of opportunities to score on a one-man advantage, Carolina gained possession of the puck twice and almost managed to score — center Sebastian Aho nearly scored on New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin, launching a bullet that bounced off the right goalpost.

Across the first period, the Canes nailed eight shots on goal to New York’s five, already putting up a better performance than Wednesday evening’s game. Goaltender Antti Raanta continued to make tactical saves on the ice despite the Rangers’ power play advantage: barring defenseman Brenden Smith’s altercations earlier in the game, Carolina allowed two penalties in the first period.

Ultimately, the second period kicked off after a scoreless 20 minutes of play. Raanta wasn’t receiving much action across the first 10 minutes of the second period. At that point, New York had only three shot attempts in the period, significantly lower than Carolina’s 15 shot attempts.

A few minutes later, defenseman Brady Skjei was sent to the penalty box for a double minor penalty, giving the Rangers a four-minute opportunity to exercise a power play goal against the Canes. It wasn’t looking great for Carolina — with the minutes ticking away, any goal from the Rangers would have been difficult to match.

Thankfully, the Hurricanes didn’t have to worry about that. 15 minutes into the second period and about three minutes into Skjei’s penalty, Smith scored on a beautiful assist from Aho to give Carolina the advantage heading into the back half of game two.

After Smith’s shorty, the Canes attempted to increase their lead over the Rangers on a series of power plays before the second intermission. New York center Kevin Rooney and left-wing Chris Kreider were sent to the box within the last five minutes of the third period — at one point, creating a two-man advantage for the Canes — but the Rangers were ultimately able to exercise the power play kill in the face of Carolina’s tough offense.

Out of the final 20 minutes of gameplay, the first 15 were largely uneventful — no penalties, no injuries, no goals — but things definitely picked up within the last two or three minutes. Although both teams were matched offensively across the third period, there wasn’t a lot of flow within either team.

The Rangers put on the pressure with less than three minutes left in the game, emptying their net to add an extra attacker in hopes of tying the game. Carolina had several shots on goal, mostly shooting wide, and it wasn’t until 19:58 in the third period that Aho nailed a goal to extend the Hurricane’s lead to 2-0. The game ended less than two seconds later, cementing the Cane’s game two win to widen their series lead heading into the next two matches.

Although Carolina stepped up its offensive play to secure another win against the Rangers, it’s worth noting that Raanta has been on a hot streak — Friday’s night match marked his first postseason shutout, and it doesn’t look like the Finland native is slowing down anytime soon.

The Hurricanes will face the Rangers once again on Sunday, May 22 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Puck drops at 3:30 p.m.