Hurricanes cap sweep of Rangers
Sebastian Aho scored twice in the third period while James Reimer was strong in net to help the Hurricanes beat the Rangers 4-1 on Tuesday night in Toronto and sweep the Stanley Cup qualifier series.
Warren Foegele scored the goahead goal early in the third period for the Hurricanes, redirecting a shot from the point by Brady Skjei to beat rookie Igor Shesterkin at 5:07 in the third. Then Aho followed with a highlight-reel goal about 51⁄2 minutes later, taking the puck from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba along the boards and skating in on Tony DeAngelo to backhand the puck past Shesterkin as he went to his knees.
Aho added an empty-netter late to seal it, with the Hurricanes sweeping the best-of-5 series after losing all four regular-season meetings against the Rangers.
Reimer had a huge part of the win too, finishing with 37 saves that included a couple of big stops during a wild second-period sequence.
That included Reimer — who got the start after Petr Mrazek won the first two games of the series — stopping Brendan Lemieux as he skated in toward the crease. He was unable to control the puck as Hurricanes defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Sami Vatanen dove into the crease to clog the net, with Vatanen managing to make his own diving stop of Lemieux’s follow-up shot with his left shoulder.
That bought time for Reimer to get to his feet, then make another in-close stop on Filip Chytil near the crease by extending his right glove.
Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes early in the second period, a quick answer to a goal by Chris Kreider for a 1-0 lead that was the Rangers’ first of series’ first two games.the postseason.
With the loss, the Rangers are the first team eliminated from the NHL’s expanded playoff rounds but are also in the running to claim the No. 1 overall draft pick in Monday’s second draft lottery. One of the eight eliminated playoff teams will claim the chance to select Quebec junior Alexis Lafreniere, the projected top pick.
Leafs even series: Auston Matthews and John Tavares scored and the Maple Leafs beat the Blue Jackets 3-0 in Toronto to even their best-of-five qualifying series at one game each.
Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin was taken off the ice on a stretcher with 1:52 left in the game after his head made violent contact with Oliver Bjorkstrand behind the Blue Jackets net. Muzzin was attended to by a trainer before more medical personnel arrived on the ice.
Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for his third career playoff shutout and Morgan Rielly added an empty-net goal with 43 seconds left.
One-timers: Jordan Eberle scored twice, including the goahead goal, and the Islanders rallied to a 4-2 win over the Panthers in Toronto and take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series . ... Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, Jusse Saros stopped 24 shots and the Predators beat the Coyotes 4-2 in Edmonton, Alberta to even their best-of-five series.