The Carolina Hurricanes find themselves a game away from elimination, after falling 3-2 in overtime to the New York Rangers yesterday in Game 3.
Pyotr Kochetkov got his first start for the Hurricanes, while Evgeny Kuznetsov came back into the lineup in place of Max Comtois.
Carolina had a power play early in the first period, but of course, they couldn't convert, before the teams spent some time at 4-on-4 courtesy of an Andrei Svechnikov embellishment call. Midway through the first period though, the Hurricanes managed to strike first, with Jake Guentzel tipping in a shot from Dmitry Orlov.
Carolina had to kill off a Rangers’ power play later in the frame but, after outshooting New York 17-7 in what was a pretty strong opening frame, the Hurricanes took the lead to intermission.
The second period opened with the teams rotating through a series of penalties, but with the Hurricanes on a man advantage midway through the frame, not only did they not capitalize, but Brent Burns got caught flat-footed at the offensive blue line, before Mika Zibanejad found Chris Kreider for the tying goal shorthanded. Then shortly after that, disaster almost struck twice with the Hurricanes allowing a shorthanded breakaway on the very same power play, but Kochetkov came up with a big save.
Even with another power play chance shortly after that though, the Hurricanes still couldn’t convert, and despite outshooting New York 37-18 at that point, the game remained tied.
Then about a third of the way into the third period, the Rangers took their first lead, with Artemi Panarin finding Alexis Lafreniere on a rush, who beat Kochetkov before he could fully get over. The teams traded opportunities on the man advantage midway through the frame from there, but Carolina wasn’t able to make up any ground.
However, with under two minutes to go and the goalie pulled, Andrei Svechnikov got to a loose puck from a point shot and roofed it over Igor Shesterkin, giving the Hurricanes some life and sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame though, Artemi Panarin quickly buried the Hurricanes only two minutes in, redirecting a puck through Kochetkov to give the Rangers the overtime win, and a 3-0 stranglehold on the series.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but to recap: the Hurricanes put together a pretty good game at 5-on-5, but were failed by their special teams, and goaltending made a difference.
Carolina has outshot New York by a 104-64 margin over the last two games, but much like the Florida series last year, they still have nothing to show for. It’s got to be frustrating, in the sense that the Hurricanes have had a fairly decent series, and every game has been decided by a single goal, but they’re now facing elimination.
In the goaltending battle, it was much more a matter of Shesterkin being an asset for the Rangers than Kochetkov being a liability for the Hurricanes. We probably see Frederik Andersen back in net next game, but Kochetkov was fine.
Again though, the Hurricanes’ power play was still unable to yield any results, and now, they’re actually a minus-one in the series with a shorthanded goal allowed. While they didn’t give up anything to the Rangers on the man advantage for the first time so far, they’re now 0-for-15 in the series, after coming into the playoffs as the league’s second-best power play.
Another note as well: Vincent Trocheck is torching the Hurricanes, with six points in the series. Trocheck is making less than $1 million more than Jesperi Kotkaniemi (who was likely supposed to take over the second-line center role after Trocheck's departure), and to compare: Trocheck has five goals and 12 points in seven playoff games this year, wile Kotkaniemi has yet to record a point through eight games.
Now facing a 3-0 deficit though, things are looking pretty bleak. Carolina has been right in every game, but not being able to squeak out a single win means they’re facing almost an impossible hill to climb.
Game 4 takes place tomorrow night in Carolina.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM THE SERIES
- Previewing Round 2: Hurricanes vs. Rangers
- Special teams battle makes the difference in Canes' Game 1 loss to Rangers
- Hurricanes suffer 2OT loss to Rangers in Game 2, fall behind 2-0 in series
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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