Rangers take Game 6, Canes will host decisive Game 7 on Monday
Posted May 28, 2022 8:56 p.m. EDT
Updated May 29, 2022 6:43 a.m. EDT
| Carolina Hurricanes | 2 |
| New York Rangers | 5 |
| Final | |
The Carolina Hurricanes had to do something it hadn't done all Playoffs if it wanted to vanquish the Rangers in six games — win on the road.
But the Canes' road woes continued as just about everything that could go wrong did in a 5-2 loss in New York.
It began as a disparity in goaltenders and ended in a penalty-laden meltdown, but Canes' netminder Antti Raanta struggled early and often, allowing two first-period goals, one of which was an unassisted 35-foot wrist shot. That one set the tone just seven minutes in.
Brendan Smith picked up a penalty not even two minutes later and the Rangers' power play capitalized, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead with barely nine minutes gone. Mike Zibanejad scored, but it was a save Raanta arguably should have made.
But the Rangers' Igor Shesterkin has had no such trouble. The Canes got good scoring chances throughout, but he was very difficult to penetrate, saving 37 of the 39 shots he faced.
The Rangers struck again just three and a half minutes into the second period, extending their lead to 3-0 as Adam Fox found Filip Chytil.
That gave Canes head coach Rod Brind'Amour little choice but to pull Raanta. Pyotr Kochetov came in to relieve him.
Just a minute and a half later, former Ranger Brady Skjei answered with his first Playoff goal, cutting the lead to 3-1.
It seemed like the Canes had a bit of pep in their step after that with a new goalie and a two-goal deficit with plenty of time, but Chytil answered less than two minutes later to extend New York's lead to 4-1.
The Hurricanes did show some more fight as Vincent Trocheck found the net 12:47 into the second to cut the deficit to 4-2. But they couldn't capitalize on power play chances when they had them and couldn't kill the Rangers' penalties.
The rarely-penalized Jaccob Slavin got a 4-minute double minor for high sticking midway through the third, but with just 12 seconds remaining in the power play, the Rangers scored to go up 5-2 and all but seal it with 12:17 to go.
It was a penalty parade for the Canes in the closing minutes, but the score remained the same.
Game 7 will be Monday in Raleigh at PNC Arena.
