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Perfect special teams play against a special-teams powerhouse led the Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-seven second-round series in the NHL playoffs.
Mika Zibanejad scored two first-period goals and Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin also tallied as the Blueshirts beat the Hurricanes in front of 18,006 at MSG. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves to help lift the Rangers to 12-3 in their past 15 home playoff games.
If anyone was worried that the Rangers would be flat after having a week without games following their sweep of the Capitals, well, there obviously wasn’t any reason to fret.
Main takeaways
– The Rangers scored two power-play goals in the first period, one by Zibanejad and one by Trocheck, against the No. 1 penalty kill in the NHL during the regular season. The Hurricanes killed 86.4 percent of their opponents’ power plays during the season. The Rangers also smothered the Carolina’s No. 2-ranked power play, killing off five penalties.
– The Hurricanes usually generate a ton of shot volume — they were third in the NHL in shots on goal per game (33.3). But the Rangers suppressed Carolina’s shots through the first two periods, allowing only six in each frame. The Rangers had 17 blocked shots in the first two periods. Overall, Carolina had 25 shots on goal.
– With 17:12 left in the third, the Hurricanes drew within one goal when Jordan Martinook threaded a pass to Martin Necas cruising down the middle and Necas snapped the puck between Shesterkin’s legs.
– Panarin’s goal, which came with 11:39 left in the third, was his third of the playoffs and gave the Rangers a two-goal lead. Panarin has been dangerous so far after mustering only two assists in the first-round loss to the Devils last year.
– With 1:45 left and their goalie pulled for a sixth attacker, the Canes pulled within 4-3 on a chaos goal by Seth Jarvis in front of the Ranger net, his fourth of the playoffs. Things got even more dangerous a minute later when Trocheck was whistled for delay of game for batting the puck into the stands, meaning Carolina had a 6-on-4 advantage. But it was brief because Andrei Svenchnikov was called for tripping just five seconds later and the Rangers held on.
– The first period was a goal-filled, physical affair featuring multiple scores and multiple scrums. The Rangers took a quick 1-0 lead with 17:14 left when Jack Roslovic skated behind the Carolina net and fed Zibanejad alone in front. But the Canes answered quickly, scoring just 62 seconds later when Jaccob Slavin’s deflected shot got past Shesterkin.
– The Rangers took a 2-1 lead with 9:55 left in the first on one of the prettiest goals of the playoffs. After local favorite Tony DeAngelo was whistled for roughing with 10:02 left, the Rangers’ power play clicked. Trocheck passed to Chris Kreider in front and Kreider delivered a no-look, backhanded pass to Zibanejad on Frederik Andersen’s right and Zibanejad smacked the puck in. Zibanejad’s second goal of the game gave him his 16th career multi-point playoff game for the Rangers, tying him for third in club history with Rod Gilbert. Zibanejad also has multiple points in each of his last four playoff games and three goals overall in these playoffs.
– With 3:46 left in the first, Evgeny Kuznetsov was penalized for cross-checking Adam Fox in the face, giving the Rangers another power play. Trocheck batted a loose puck past Andersen after Zibanejad had a try, giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead. It was Trocheck’s fourth goal of the playoffs.
Game MVP
Zibanejad. Mika May is off to one heckuva start — Zibanejad had two goals and an assist and was the most dynamic player on the ice, continuing his terrific playoffs so far.
Highlights
What’s next
The Rangers and Hurricanes return to MSG for Game 2 Tuesday.