The resilient Rangers once again found a way. Artemi Panarin's game-winning goal came at 1:43 of overtime to give New York, who welcomed back Filip Chytil, a 3-0 series lead. The Blueshirts found a way to shake off a dominant Carolina first period and game-tying goal aided by a broken stick with 1:36 remaining in regulation to pull out the victory. Special teams once again made a difference, as Chris Kreider notched another short-handed goal while the penalty kill was on point. Game 4 is Saturday at 7pm in Carolina,
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1) Panarin continues to score big goals. His tally Thursday was his fourth of the postseason, all four have been game-winners. That's coming up big when needed. The narrative that Panarin vanishes in the playoffs has been erased somewhat so far this year.
His linemates were noticeable as well. Alexis Lafreniere notched a goal - a snipe that gave New York a lead in the third - while assisting on the game-winner. Vincent Trocheck made the pass from the right faceoff circle that Bread deflected between his legs at the crease, giving Vnny T a point in all seven playoff games. He and Sebastian Aho were chirping throughout the game.
2) Chytil played his first game since November 3, a span of 172 days. The move came as a surprise as pretty much all of us expected Matt Rempe to play. Chytil skated to the left of Alex Wennberg and Kaapo Kakko on the third line with Will Cuylle shifting down to the fourth line to play with Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.
Chytil's return most certainly lengthens the lineup. Obviously, the concern is that Chytil will get injured again, but there is no way he would have been cleared unless the medical staff felt he was ready. Chytil played 12:02, notching five shot attempts - one on goal - with a pair of hits. He just missed a goal on a beautiful move in the third period that Pyotr Kochetkov, who was very good in replacing Frederik Andersen, denied his backhander.
The smile on Chytil's face was ear to ear. You can tell how much he wanted to be back and how happy he is that he was able to play. His quote below says it all and his feeling goes throughout the organization, see by Blake Wheeler pounding the glass after Panarin's game-winner..
“This team is unbelievable, what they did without me for a whole season. But I know with me, we can be even better. I just love this team. I love these players. I love everybody in this organization.”
3) New York withstood the initial expected foray from Carolina. The Hurricanes outplayed the Rangers in the first period, outshooting the Blueshirts, 17-7. They took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on Jake Guentzel's third goal in the last two games. Based on how Carolina carried play, New York had to be happy to only be down by one.
Just looking at the shots, as the Canes had 47 shots for the game, including 20 in the second stanza is a bit of a misnomer. As Vince Mercogliano wrote, the Canes continued to pepper Igor Shesterkin, living up to their reputation as one of the NHL's biggest shot volume teams, but the quantity often lacked quality. They were only credited with four high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five through two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick, with the Blueshirts' netminder swallowing up all of their long-range attempts while limiting the rebound opportunities.
If Carolina continues to put whatever they can on net, as long as Igor has a clear sight line, he likely will make the save. He made 99 saves the last two games, both won in overtime, and was the major reason for the victories, Igor is locked in between the pipes.
4) Special teams - New York's streak of scoring at least one power-play goal in five straight games came to end, as they went 0-for-5 on the man-advantage. But the penalty kill made up for it. Zibanejad sparked the tying goal on a second-period PK with a takeaway and chip off the boards past Brent Burns to get free on a two-on-one rush. He ended the impressive sequence by feeding Kreider, who got past Burns by flying down the center of the ice for the deflection past Kochetkov to make it 1-1 at the 8:30 mark.
The assist tied Zibanejad for most points (12) in franchise history through seven playoff games while giving the Rangers their third shorthanded goal of the postseason. They went 5-for-5 on the PK for the third consecutive game and have killed 23 straight overall. Let that number sink in, 23 straight kills in the postseason against the team that had the best PP after the All-Star break and one of the best in the league overall for the season. Their overall success rate in these playoffs is 93.8% (30-for-32), which has contributed mightily to the seven straight wins.
End. This. Series. Saturday. Don't allow Carolina to have any semblance of hope. The Canes will try and throw everything at them Saturday. Weather the early storm and keep adding seeds of doubt into the mind of their opponents. We all know the current record mirrors what we saw in 1994. Slightly tweak the narrative by winning their eighth straight and ending the series.
Over the last four postseasons, the Hurricanes are now 6-16 on the road compared to 18-7 at home. A lot of that stems from the 2021-22 playoffs where the splits were especially dire: 7-1 at home and 0-6 on the road
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