Hurricanes stay alive with a late power play goal, beat Rangers 4-3

By WRAL

New York Rangers	3
Carolina Hurricanes	4
Final

Raleigh, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes had their backs against the wall, trailing 3-0 to the New York Rangers in the second round Stanley Cup Playoffs series. The team responded with a third period power play goal, the first of the series for Carolina, winning 4-3. The Canes now trail 3-1 in the series and will play the Rangers in New York on Monday in Game 5.

Frederick Andersen will return in net after Pyotr Kochetkov started the Game 3 overtime loss.

Talk about playing like your postseason life depends on it. Nearly two minutes into the first period, Evgeny Kuznetsov gets hold of the puck and scores unassisted to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.

Turns out, the Hurricanes aren't done yet: about five minutes later in the first period, Carolina corrals a rebound and Sefan Noesen gives the Canes a 2-0 lead. It's his fourth goal of the posteason, with assists from Teuvo Teravainen and Tony DeAngelo.

I hope you like goals, because it look slike you're getting goals in this one: the Rangers respond quickly, Will Cuylle scored his first career playoff goal with assists from Kaapo Kakko and Erik Gustafsson to make it 2-1.

The Hurricanes keep pouring it on: Jake Guentzel had no one around him for an easy pass to Sebastian Aho, who slotted it into the top-right corner for the goal, making it 3-1. That's Aho's seventh point of the series, but first goal.

As the Canes move into the second period, the penalties have been pretty on the light side, only one per team. The Canes got on the power play for the first time with just under 14 minutes remaining in the second. The Canes looked better on the power play than in games past, but still only got one shot on goal. Carolina is now 0/16 on the power play against the Rangers.

The Canes and the Rangers refuse to play a game without drama. Barclay Goodrow deflected a shot from Braden Schneider to get the puck past Andersen and give New York a second period goal. Hurricanes still lead, 3-2.

A little more than two minutes into the third period, Alexis Lafreniere did what he's done for most of this series: score goals. He was able to poke the puck off the back of Andersen's leg and around the pole. It's his fourth goal of the series. The two teams are now tied 3-3.

With 3:43 remaining, the Hurricanes pick up a power play opportunity, and for the first time all series, the Canes score. Brady Skjei scored his first goal of the postseason, with assists from Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov.

Pregame

The Carolina Hurricanes finished the regular season three points shy of the Presidents Trophy-winning New York Rangers.

They now find themselves down three games and facing elimination at the hands of the Rangers.

The ghosts of recent postseasons returned Thursday in a 3-2 overtime loss to New York. The Canes' last eight playoff losses have all been by one goal and they've lost their last five playoff overtime games dating back to last season's sweep in the Eastern Conference Final.

When Artemi Panarin tipped in a pass from former Hurricane Vincent Trocheck early in overtime, the sinking feeling Canes fans have felt in recent springs returned while similar questions lingered.

How did a team that was so successful in the last three months of the regular season find itself being outplayed to this extent?

Whether it's three points or three games, the disparity between the two teams never felt wider than the immediate moments after Game 3 when the Hurricanes again failed to score on numerous power play chances and allowed a deflating shorthanded goal that encapsulated the frustration surrounding the now mountainous deficit.

Even with Carolina getting the all-important first goal, the Rangers' Chris Kreider answered with a shorthanded tally in the second period that nullified any momentum gained in the first 20 minutes. The Canes were seemingly their own worst enemy again.

"Certainly, you don't want to feel sorry for yourselves or anything like that," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's a new day and it's a new challenge tomorrow. We want to put our best foot forward."

In what was packaged as one of the more anticipated series of the NHL's second round, the Rangers have been decidedly quicker, grittier and opportunistic in winning three one-goal games, two of which came in overtime.

"You lose two times in a row, obviously our backs are against the wall right now," said Sebastian Aho. "You go about your business as usual. You come into work every day and give the best you got. What happened in the past is in the past."

Only four teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit in NHL playoff history with the most recent instance being the Los Angeles Kings' first-round triumph against the San Jose Sharks in 2014.

Canes goalie Pytor Kochetkov made 22 saves in his first career playoff start. On Friday, Brind'Amour didn't commit to naming a starting goalie for Game 4. Frederik Andersen started games 1 and 2 along with all five games against the New York Islanders.

Game 4 is Saturday at 7 p.m. at PNC Arena.

Series schedule