The comeback kids do it again as the New York Rangers take game seven from the Carolina Hurricanes in decisive fashion by the score of 6-2. What a turnaround as the Rangers bounced back better than they ever have after the disappointing showing in game five, taking game six and game seven by storm, officially putting an end to Hurricane season. The Rangers got a huge boost to their lineup in game six with the return of Barclay Goodrow and since then, this team has been borderline unstoppable. The Hurricanes didn’t have an answer for keeping the Rangers offense, especially their power play from scoring and Igor Shesterkin played some of his best hockey in this postseason, keeping the puck out of the Rangers net.
The puck dropped and the two teams were underway, a long battle of a series comes down to one game, winner moves on, loser goes home. Getting off to a strong, quick start was going to be huge for either team and thankfully, the Rangers wasted no time when Sebastian Aho got called for a hooking penalty and their power play went to work. Their top unit got some looks but couldn’t get anything going. As they began to change, Adam Fox remained out there and with assists from Alexis Lafreniere and Andrew Copp, put a wrist shot through Antti Raanta to get the Blueshirts on the board early. A huge moment for Fox who scores his fifth of the postseason on the play, exactly the kind of start this team needed to get off to.
I wouldn’t be long for the Hurricanes to get their chance on the power play as less than a minute after the goal, Jesperi Kotkaniemi took Jacob Trouba’s stick to the visor, sending him off for two minutes, high sticking. The Rangers penalty killers took care of business, protecting the lead they established early. Not too long after he got out of the box, Jacob Trouba laid a huge hit on Seth Jarvis that left him crawling back to the bench. At first it seemed like he broke a skate blade or something along those lines but when he got back to the bench he was sitting on the floor behind it, surrounded by teammates and eventually the Hurricanes trainer. Again, another clean hit for Trouba that unfortunately took Jarvis out of the game as you always hate to see a guy go down, especially in such a big game.
However, Jarvis struggling to get to the bench threw the Hurricanes off as Andrei Svechnikov became the sixth Carolina player on the ice, giving the Rangers another power play opportunity. This time, it was their top unit getting it done as Adam Fox fed a pass to Mika Zibanejad who let a shot turned pass go to Chris Kreider for a picture perfect tip-in, making it a 2-0 game. They talked about it in the pre game coverage, that the Rangers would need a big night from Kreider and he certainly stepped up for his team, helping them get this huge win. Ryan Reaves would get called for interference around the halfway mark of the period but the Rangers held down the fort and would take that two goal lead to the first intermission.
The pace would drop off a bit in the second and Igor Shesterkin stood tall, stopping all of Carolina’s chances through the first and second period. The teams split power play opportunities but no one would convert as the score remained for most of the second. Hands down the scariest moment of the period came when Ryan Lindgren went down on a delayed penalty call, resulting in him heading off with Rangers trainer Jim Ramsey. It’s no secret that Lindgren has been dealing with injuries since the early stages of the Penguins series so seeing him go down in a game seven is certainly among the list of things you don’t want to happen. He’s one of, if not the most important guy on the team when it comes to effort and holding everyone else together. Miraculously, he would return later in the game and hopefully should be fine going forward.
The injuries wouldn’t end there for either team as Antti Raanta would also leave the game in the second period after going down awkwardly, stretching across the crease to make a save. Another situation where even though it’s the enemy in the moment, you truly hate to see him go down. Especially Antti Raanta, a former Rangers who is still highly regarded by fans and just an overall hard to dislike kind of guy. He’s been great for the Hurricanes aside from getting pulled in game six and has worked his whole career for a stretch like this, to be the night in and night out starter. Nevertheless, Pyotr Kochetkov would come into the game and it wouldn’t be long before he was tested.
Ideally, when a goalie comes in cold off the bench you want to score as soon as you are able to get that first shot off. Kochetkov would turn down The Rangers first chance with a huge save to get him acquainted with the action. However, Ryan Strome would come up huge in the final minutes of the second period. Perfect breakout pass from Artemi Panarin off the boards, ends up on the stick of Strome for a two-on-one. Instead of passing to Andrew Copp who was with Strome on the rush, he let the shot go and beat Kochetkov top shelf. A much needed goal from Strome who had one called off earlier in the series to put the Rangers up 3-0 heading into the final period of game seven.
Win the period. Win the game. The Rangers picked up right where they left off and just four minutes into the period, found themselves up 4-0. Chris Kreider used his speed to come in on a quick breakaway and snuck a backhander past Kochetkov, giving the Rangers another insurance goal. The Hurricanes would finally find a way to beat Shesterkin on their final power play of the game when Vincent Trocheck got a stick on a Tony DeAngelo slap shot, showing some signs of life on Carolina’s end. 40 seconds later, Filip Chytil reminded the Hurricanes that this game belonged to the Rangers for his fifth of the postseason on a perfect shot.
Max Domi would find the back of the net with four minutes left but it was too little too late. Andrew Copp got the empty netter with under three minutes to go and from that moment on, it was just a countdown to the buzzer. Braden Schneider held the puck behind the Rangers net as the bench went wild and the horn sounded.. The New York Rangers are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. THE NEW YORK RANGERS ARE HEADED TO THE EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS. This team has time and time again lived up to their mantra of No Quit In New York. Down 3-1 in the series to Pittsburgh, down 3-2 in the series to Carolina, series comeback wins in game seven. Game’s six and seven against Carolina have been some of their best hockey. The way they were playing last night, confident, in control, diving to block shots, playing hard, playing as a team, that’s the type of stuff that teams need to have if they want to win.
The camaraderie within this group is such a key factor in the success they are having and it is so evident, especially in moments like the final minute of the game when they were going up and down the bench, hugging and high-fiving each other. Guys are stepping up, playing bigger roles, getting down to block shots, making plays, throwing hits. They have each other's back and there’s absolutely something to be said about that. All of a sudden, the Rangers are one of four teams left in the chase for the Stanley Cup and will head back to the Garden with all the energy and momentum from another huge game seven win.
The Rangers will take on the defending, back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. The Rangers not only have the advantage of home ice in the series, but they have the advantage of staying hot against a team that hasn’t played in almost two weeks. Sure, the Lightning will be well rested whereas the Rangers have to be feeling the effects of going seven games two rounds in a row, however they have a great chance of getting on top of things early which would be a great change of pace. The Rangers have also had great success against the Lightning during the regular season so you have to hope they will carry that into the postseason. This team has so much to be proud of and a great opportunity to keep it going. With that in mind, there is one question to be asked…
Why not us?
LETS GO RANGERS
Chris Feldman
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