They meet again
The Rangers lost the regular-season series with the Hurricanes 3-1. And were swept in their lone playoff matchup — albeit in a best-of-five qualifying-round series in the 2020 bubble playoffs. Here’s a look back:
Regular-season recap
Jan. 21 in Raleigh, N.C. Hurricanes 6, Rangers 3
The Hurricanes dominated the first 40 minutes, scoring five of the game’s first six goals and cruised to victory. Sebastian Aho and former Ranger Tony DeAngelo each notched three points in the one-sided win.
March 20 in Raleigh, N.C. Rangers 2, Hurricanes 0
The Rangers’ lone victory during the regular season came on the strength of their backup goalie. Alexandar Georgiev (above) made 44 saves in a masterful performance and Chris Kreider snapped a scoreless tie late in the second period.
April 12 at MSG Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2
A game that went a long way to deciding the Metropolitan Division winner, Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal scored third-period goals as the Hurricanes moved four points ahead of the Rangers. Kreider notched his 50th goal of the season, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to reach the plateau, in defeat.
April 26 at MSG Hurricanes 4, Rangers 3
Carolina clinched the Metropolitan Division at the Garden behind 31 saves from rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and two assists from one-time Ranger defenseman Brady Skjei. Down three goals in the third period, the Rangers rallied to get within one after goals from Jacob Trouba and Alexis Lafreniere, but couldn’t finish off the comeback.
Playoff history
The Rangers and Hurricanes have met just once in the postseason, during the 2020 bubble playoffs. It was the qualifying round, and the Rangers were swept, 3-0. Carolina, the sixth seed, took down the 11th-seeded Blueshirts 3-2 in Game 1 and by matching 4-1 scores in the next two games.
Sebastian Aho had three goals and eight points in the series and Andrei Svechnikov notched the Hurricanes’ first playoff hat trick in Game 2. Igor Shesterkin made his playoff debut in Game 3, producing 27 saves in the loss.