Holding a 3-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes, the Canes were riding an all-time high with Game 7 in their sights and a chance to make history. However, that final 20 minutes separating the Canes from a winner-takes-all, turned into a nightmare for Caniacs thanks to Rangers left wing Chris Kreider.
“We battled hard,” said center Jordan Staal. “We had it in our hands there and played some great hockey… tonight was good beyond the third. We were 20 minutes from rolling into Game 7 where anything can happen, [it’s] frustrating, upsetting, all the negative things you can think of.”
A natural hat trick in under 10 minutes, elated New York and left Carolina shaking its head wondering where its two-goal lead had gone. Kreider single-handedly changed the tides of Game 6.
As for the Canes, you couldn’t ask more from the group through the first 45 or so minutes of the game. They came out of the gates buzzing and looked like the better team, notching the first two goals of the game.
The first period seemed it would end disappointingly for the Canes as it looked like the Rangers had escaped the period with a 0-0 tie, but that was before center Martin Necas notched his fourth goal of the postseason.
After forechecking hard and escaping his man, Necas drifted towards the net unmarked, and from behind the goal, left wing Jordan Martinook found him with his back turned. Necas then roofed the puck past the glove of Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin from in tight to give the Hurricanes a one-goal lead entering the first intermission.
Compared to the first 20 minutes that flew by with relatively few stoppages and no penalties, the first couple minutes of the second was the opposite. Martinook was sent to the box for high-sticking but the alternate captain’s penalty was quickly nullified when Kreider cross-checked center Seth Jarvis into Shesterkin.
Drawing the penalty, Jarvis was the one who capitalized on the abbreviated man-advantage to put the Hurricanes up 2-0. On a shot from the point by right wing Andrei Svechnikov, center Sebastian Aho got a stick to it and the deflection landed right in front of Jarvis who stuffed it home.
Jarvis, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, led the team in goals for the postseason with five. One of the bright spots for the Canes in the series was how young players like Jarvis performed.
“The young kids were really good for us,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Very very productive and taking huge strides and that’s a real positive moving forward and for the organization.”
As quickly as New York found itself down 2-0, it bounced back to cut the lead to one on a tip-in from center Vincent Trocheck less than a minute after Jarvis’ goal. Following a stellar save from Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen, defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s attempt to clear the puck put the puck on a tee for one of the NHL’s best players.
Orlov’s clear looked more like a pass to Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin, who promptly one-timed the puck from the point toward an empty net. Trocheck got a tip on the puck, however, with Andersen not able to make it back across the net in time, it likely wasn’t needed.
On an easily avoidable goal, the Rangers went from having no life to turning the heat up and putting Carolina on its heels. Even though New York had many opportunities, trapping the Canes in their zone, Carolina survived the Rangers’ attack long enough for Aho to give the Canes back their two-goal lead.
Taking advantage of Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller jumping into the play a little late, Svechnikov sprung Aho with a breakout pass who rifled a goal above Shesterkin’s glove. Despite Aho’s goal, the Rangers kept pushing but two incredible defensive plays kept the score at 3-1 heading into the third.
Diving to stop Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren from scoring, Martinook came up short but as he was sliding into the net head first, he had the wherewithal to find the puck that was trickling through Andersen’s pads and toward the goal, clearing the puck off the goal line just in time.
Then, minutes later, defenseman Jalen Chatfield hustled down the ice to deny Panarin a one-on-one opportunity with Andersen. Chatfield tied up Panarin’s stick and didn’t even allow a shot on what was a high-danger chance.
The beginning of the third was looking to keep going the Hurricanes’ way but had no luck finding twine. Between Martinook hitting the crossbar, center Jake Guentzel hitting the post and Shesterkin making some big saves, Carolina couldn’t extend its lead and the Rangers came storming back.
Similar to left wing Alexis Lafreniere’s goal in Game 4, center Mika Zibanejad threw it off Andersen from behind the goal line and was unable to completely cover the puck. Eyeing a loose puck, Kreider stuffed the puck across the goal line making it a one-goal game.
Five minutes later while on the power play, it was Kreider again who got to the net front and this time completely redirected a shot from Panarin to beat Andersen who had no chance of making the save. Then with just over four minutes left, Kreider, right in front of the crease for the third time, scored his third goal to stun everyone inside PNC Arena.
If Kreider’s game-winning goal wasn’t enough to seal it, center Barclay Goodrow’s empty net to make it 5-3 iced the game. In less than 20 minutes the Canes had gone from evening the series to packing their bags.
Half of the current roster will be unsigned going into the summer either as restricted or unrestricted free agents. It’s hard not to get the feeling that we have seen the last of many players that have become Carolina Hurricanes staples over the past couple of years.
“It sucks,” Aho said. “[We were] a special group, hopefully we will stay the same as possible but that’s the shitty part of it. We had everything we needed to get over the hump.”
