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He Forest ranger lost a second straight game to the Carolina Hurricanes in their second-round playoff series, blowing an early lead and falling, 4-1, in Game 5 on Monday night at MSG.
The Rangers still lead the best-of-seven series, 3-2, and the series will move to Raleigh, North Carolina, for Game 6 on Thursday. But the whole thing has a different feel: the ‘Canes reel off two straight wins while trying to survive.
The Rangers had won their previous four home games in these playoffs before Monday.
Food for take away
– The Hurricanes are trying to accomplish something accomplished by only four NHL teams: coming back to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. The team that took a 3-0 lead won the series 205 times or 98.1 percent of the time, according to NHL.com.
– Carolina was trailing at the beginning of the third period, but scored three goals in just over six minutes to take the lead and change the series. With 16:27 left, Jordan Staal skated around Braden Schneider and win Igor Shesterkin with a backhand shot to tie the score and 3:06 later, Evgeny Kuznetsov put in the puck after Shesterkin had given up a juicy rebound on a Brady Skjei Shooting. Then, with 10:04 left, Jordan Martinook scored after a pass Martin Necas from behind the net after a Ranger giveaway. Necas scored an empty-net goal with 3:31 after the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for an extra attacker.
– Jacob Trouba scored a shorthanded goal with 13:37 left in the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. He was part of a two-on-one after a turnover by Carolina’s power play team. Trouba kept the puck and fired it past Andersen on the stick side for his first goal of the playoffs. It was the Rangers’ second shorthanded goal of the series and fourth of these playoffs so far.
– New York’s penalty kill continued to work well, stopping three Carolina power plays. The Rangers are 19 of 20 (95%) on the PK in this series and 34 of 37 (91.9%) overall in the playoffs.
– Neither team scored in the first half, although there were some good chances. Carolina made Shesterkin work harder and he had to stop the Ranger killer Jake Guentzel on an escape attempt with about three minutes left in the period. The Rangers’ best chance was probably Chris Kreider Council tries to get Andersen to move away.
– Matt Rempe He returned to action after being eliminated in each of the last two games. The Ranger fans seemed happy, chanting “Rem-pe, Rem-pe” during one of their first shifts in the first period. Filip Chytil did not play and neither Jonny Brodzinski.
Who is the MVP?
carolina goalkeeper Frederik Andersen, who made 20 saves. He started for the second straight game after being replaced in Game 3 and has now started four of the five games in the series. I’m guessing he’ll get a fifth in Game 6.
Reflexes
Whats Next
The Hurricanes host the Rangers for Game 6 on Thursday at 7 p.m. If necessary, Game 7 is tentatively scheduled for Saturday.
