Hurricanes counting on home ice magic to cool off Rangers
Carolina shooters looking to solve white-hot Shesterkin in pivotal Game 5
For every bit as good as the Carolina Hurricanes looked in winning all six home games of the current playoffs, they have skated away with a loss in all five contests away from Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes hope to morph back into the good doctor at home on Thursday when they play Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal set against the New York Rangers.
The Hurricanes won the first two contests at home before the Rangers stormed back to even the best-of-seven series in New York.
Carolina has outscored the opposition by a 22-7 margin at home in the playoffs and boast a 94.1 per cent penalty kill in their own building. Conversely, the Hurricanes have been outscored 21-8 on the road and are just 16-for-23 on the penalty kill (69.6 per cent) following Tuesday's 4-1 loss to New York.
“I am confident eventually they are going to find their way to the back of the net,” Carolina's Sebastian Aho said. “We just have to find ways to score. We got to score on the power play.”
Carolina failed on both opportunities with the man advantage Tuesday and are 0-for-9 in the series. Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is responsible for a significant portion of the Hurricanes' troubles, as the Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist has yielded just one goal in each of his last three games and a total of five on 122 shots in the series.
“What are you going to do? You have to keep getting the chances. I'm happy that we're creating offence,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'amour said. “(Shesterkin) played well. You have to give him a ton of credit. But the (poor) start is what did it to us.”
The Rangers scored twice in the first period and Mika Zibanejad tallied for the second straight game in the second period to send the Rangers on their way to their fifth consecutive home victory.
Zibanejad's five goals are one shy of Chris Kreider for the team lead in the playoffs. Zibanejad also has a club best 14 points in two playoff series.
Trade deadline acquisitions Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano and Tyler Motte also made their presence felt on Tuesday. Copp counted one goal and two assists, Vatrano had one of each, and Motte provided spirited play after being elevated to the third line.
“In the playoffs and in the regular season, they came in and were big factors,” Rangers defenceman Adam Fox said. “It's guys with experience and guys who know how to play the right way.”
Carolina could face a goaltending dilemma for Game 5.
Former Rangers backup Antti Raanta is 5-4 for the Hurricanes in the playoffs with a 2.09 goalsagainst average and a .931 save percentage. But regular starter Frederik Andersen has been skating on his own as he bids to make a return from a lower-body injury.
“I'll tell you when he's an option, how about that?” Brind'amour said of Andersen, who sported a 35-14-3 record, a career-best 2.17 GAA and a .922 save percentage during the regular season.