The New York Rangers secured a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes to lead 1-0 in the Eastern Conference second-round playoff series, marking their fifth consecutive playoff win with notable performances from Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, and Artemi Panarin.
The New York Rangers clinched a nail-biter, 4-3, against the Carolina Hurricanes. It all went down on Sunday at the iconic Madison Square Garden. This victory gave them a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference’s second-round playoff series.
Next up, Game 2. It’s happening Tuesday night, right back in New York.
Now, here’s a kicker – the Rangers are on a roll with their fifth straight win this playoffs. They completely swept the Washington Capitals in the first round. This marks the third time in their history that New York has kicked off the playoffs with five wins in a row.
Mika Zibanejad was on fire, netting two goals and an assist. Vincent Trocheck wasn’t far behind, with a goal and an assist of his own. Artemi Panarin found the back of the net too. Oh, and let’s not forget Chris Kreider, who dished out two assists. Between the pipes, Igor Shesterkin was solid, stopping 22 shots.
On the other side, the Hurricanes had Jacob Slavin, Martin Necas, and Seth Jarvis scoring. Sebastian Aho pitched in with two assists. In goal, Frederik Andersen made 20 saves.
Necas brought the Hurricanes closer, making it 3-2 just 2:48 into the third. But Panarin wasn’t having it, extending New York’s lead again 8:21 into the period.
Jarvis made things interesting, cutting the deficit to one with Andersen benched for an extra attacker. This happened with just 1:47 left on the clock.
The Rangers had a 3-1 lead after the first period. It was quite the start.
Zibanejad and Slavin exchanged goals in the first four minutes. Then, Zibanejad (with 9:55 left in the first) and Trocheck (3:32 remaining) scored on power plays for New York. A little trivia – Slavin’s up for the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded for sportsmanship. It’s pretty rare for a defenseman to even be nominated. Plus, Slavin only racked up eight penalty minutes during the regular season.
