Rangers tie the series 3-3

Rangers 5-2

Put simply, this game was determined by goaltending and Igor Shesterkin won. This game was easily Antii Raanta’s worst game in this series. It started out well enough for Carolina: fast paced, a lot of possession time and shots on goal. The Rangers would get their shots here and there, Carolina would take it back, a lot of tension as so much was riding on this game. If the Rangers lost, the season was over. Igor made two wild saves in those opening minutes, and right after one such glorious save Tyler Motte was able to mosey into Carolina’s zone and fired one straight on Raanta….and he didn’t stop it. It slipped under his arm much like what happened to Igor a few games ago. He didn’t close his arm fast enough and boom, one team is up in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden.

And the fans were all about it. MSG was bumping all night long. The Rangers maintained the lead for the entire game. Mika Zibanejad sniped Raanta on a powerplay after embarrassing three Carolina players to make it 2-0. The rest of the first period was frantic as Carolina fought back at every opportunity. In the second period, Carolina scored but so did Chytil, twice! After missing an open net on a 2-1 breakaway one-timer, which I thought would come back to haunt us, Chytil got a second chance and buried it. That got Raanta pulled, After Carolina answered back quickly to cut the lead down 3-1, Chytil made it 4-1 a minute and half later. A styling backhander over the right shoulder of the goalie. In the last half of the period, Carolina got a garbage goal to cut the lead down to half.

The third period was full of chances on both sides along with a whole lotta penalties. Special shout out to Tony DeAngelo for negating a Carolina power play by getting a stupid unsportsman-like penalty. At the 12:17 mark, the Rangers were on the power play when Panarin scored a long overdue goal. Through the legs of one defender and the goalie. This game wrapped up with the Rangers’ commanding three-goal lead.

Carolina outshot New York 39-25 but it made no difference to Igor. He locked that net down and got two assists. His teammates did the work in front of him to get those goals to make Carolina chase them instead of the other way around. Special teams also showed up with the Rangers going 2-5 and Carolina 0-3.

Now we’re back to square one. One game decides it all and it’s in Raleigh. The Hurricanes haven’t lost a playoff game yet this year. Can they go 8-0? That record has to end some time right? There’s no reason to think it won’t happen next. The big thing is that Barclay Goodrow came back to play in this game and he made a noticeable difference. The Rangers are now stronger. Igor is in the zone. That is huge. And now the big question: Can Raanta bounce back from this bad game? If he falters again and lets the Rangers take the lead first, that means Carolina can’t play their suffocating trap defense game to hold on to the lead. It’s a huge part of their game.

Both teams will be going all out and it’s going to be nerve-wracking.