The New York Rangers avoided elimination for the fifth straight time Monday at PNC Arena, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 in the final game of their second-round series. They joined the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Finals.
After avoiding elimination three times in the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, head coach Gerard Gallant’s men also saved their skins in Game 6 against the “Canes”.
In the seventh duel, their numerical advantage opened the door for them. They took advantage of the presence of an opponent in the dungeon on two occasions in the first period to thwart Antti Raanta. Adam Fox and Chris Kreider then hit the target.
The Hurricanes are dropping like flies
Two players of the crowd favorites had to leave the match, injured, without being able to make a return, namely Seth Jarvis and Raanta.
The first was hard checked by Jacob Trouba, before falling heavily on the ice. Visibly stunned, he tried to return to his bench by crawling. He immediately left for the locker room and the Hurricanes later confirmed he suffered an upper-body injury.
As for him, the Hurricanes goalkeeper left the game in the second period, after attempting a long lateral move to block a shot from Mika Zibanejad.
The injury seemed to finish the home side off, as substitute Pyotr Kochetkov was greeted by a goal from Ryan Strome 42 seconds after entering the rink.
The Hurricanes did try to come back in the third period, thanks to successes from Tony DeAngelo and Max Domi, but Kreider, with his second of the game, as well as Filip Chytil and Andrew Copp made sure to destroy all their hopes.
