Surging Rangers a win away from conference finals
The New York Rangers have carried the form that made them the NHL’s best regular-season team straight into the postseason. And that has them within a win of becoming the first team into the conference finals.
The Rangers visit the Carolina Hurricanes in Saturday night’s Game 4, with the Presidents’ Trophy winner on the verge of sweeping past the team that finished third in the NHL standings. They’re also the first team in 16 years to start a postseason at 7-0 after Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win at Carolina.
Artemi Panarin redirected a pass between his legs at the crease to beat Pyotr Kochetkov just 1:43 into the extra period for the Rangers’ second straight overtime win.
“You don’t really even think about it, though,” Rangers forward Jack Roslovic said. “You’re just rolling, you’re playing good hockey. Everybody’s clicking at the right time, the goalies are playing well, the systems seem to be working, the matchups seem to be working. So you just keep on trying to do a lot of the same.”
New York opened the playoffs with a sweep of Washington. Another sweep would make it the first team to open the playoffs with eight straight wins since Edmonton won nine in a row in 1985 on the way to winning the Stanley Cup, according to Sportradar.
The last team to hit 7-0 was Pittsburgh in 2008 before falling to Detroit in the Cup final. New York also did it in 1994 on the way to its most recent Cup win. Now the Rangers will try to close out the Hurricanes on their home ice in front of a typically boisterous crowd.
“We know what we’re getting into, we have to be ready for it,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said.
The Hurricanes are facing a grim and familiar reality, especially after acquiring forward Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline in a signal that the team viewed this year as its best shot to go allin as a Cup contender under coach Rod Brind’Amour.
at Dallas 5, Colorado 3:
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen scored two power-play goals, Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists and the Stars won Thursday to even the series at 1-1. Tyler Seguin scored on a shorthander at the end of a threeon-one breakaway for the Stars that put them up 4-0 late in the second.
Joel Kiviranta, Brandon Duhaime and Valeri Nichushkin scored in the third period for the Avalanche, but they failed to score on a power play in the final three minutes.