Rangers all even with Hurricanes
Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves and Andrew Copp collected a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers evened their Eastern Conference second-round series with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 late Tuesday night.
The Rangers won their fifth straight home game since losing the postseason opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins in triple overtime. The Hurricanes fell to 0-5 on the road in this year’s postseason.
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday in Raleigh, NC, and Game 6 is Saturday in New York.
New York’s Frank Vatrano and Adam
Fox scored goals 2:11 apart in the first period and Mika Zibanejad scored for the second straight game, late in the second. Copp set up New York’s first two goals and scored after Shesterkin lost his shutout bid in the third period.
Teuvo Teravainen scored with 13:27 remaining for Carolina, which has been outscored 21-8 in its playoff road games so far. The Hurricanes joined the 1992 Montreal Canadiens and 1976 Toronto Maple Leafs as the third team to lose the first five postseason road games.
Carolina’s Antti Raanta finished with 24 saves.
Shesterkin opened the game with a sprawling save against Brett Pesce, a little over a minute in. Early in the second, he made a diving stop on Teravainen.
After the Rangers had five shots on goal during their first power play and did not score, Vatrano opened the scoring with 6:29 remaining in the opening period.
New York scored again when Copp prevented Vincent Trocheck from clearing the zone and moved the puck to Lindgren, whose off-balance wrist shot from the left point was deflected in by Fox.
The Hurricanes finally broke through when Teravainen lifted the puck over Shesterkin following a turnover by New
York defenseman K’Andre Miller. Copp found enough space in the high slot for a tally with 8:50 left.
Oilers 5, Flames 3
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notched his second goal of the night late in regulation to break a tie and send host Edmonton to victory over Calgary that has it one win away from clinching the Western Conference second-round series.
With the score 3-3 after the Flames erased a three-goal deficit, Nugent-Hopkins was on the spot for a rebound to net his fourth of the playoffs with 3:27 remaining in regulation.
Evander Kane scored twice, including an empty-netter, to give him 12 goals in the playoffs, and Zach Hyman added a goal for Edmonton. Mike Smith made 29 saves for the Oilers, who lead the best-ofseven series 3-1 and will look to close out the series on Thursday in Calgary.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid netted two assists, giving him 10 multi-point games in 11 playoff outings. Leon Draisaitl also collected a pair of assists, his fourth consecutive game with multiple assists.
Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson scored for the Flames, who got 21 saves from Jacob Markstrom. (Reuters)