Rangers head home, aim to ice series

The New York Rangers played their worst period of the postseason and the Carolina Hurricanes finally scored on the power play after three-plus games of futility.

Those were the primary themes of Game 4 on Saturday night and a reason why the Eastern Conference semifinal series will shift to New York for Game 5 on Monday night.

The Rangers hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and are hoping to avoid a return trip to Raleigh, N.C., for Game 6 on Thursday.

New York extended its postseason winning streak to seven games with three one-goal victories to begin this series. The Rangers never held the lead Saturday and Carolina kept the series alive with a 4-3 victory.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen and Sebastian Aho scored in the first period for Carolina, which held a 2-1 lead after the first period through Game 2 before losing in double overtime.

The Hurricanes lost a

3-1 advantage after the opening 20 minutes Saturday and did not get the fourth goal until former New York defenseman Brady Skjei beat Igor Shesterkin on the power play with 3:11 left in the third period following a tripping penalty to Ryan Lindgren.

Stars look to extend series lead: Tyler Seguin scored a go-ahead goal late in the second period Saturday and iced the

For summaries and complete scores go to the eEdition at MiamiHerald.com.

SECOND ROUND

(Best-of-7; x-if necessary)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

FLORIDA 2, BOSTON 1

G1: Boston 5, Florida 1

G2: Florida 6, Boston 1

G3: Florida 6, Boston 2

Sunday: at Boston

Tuesday: at Florida, 7 x-Friday: at Boston, TBA x-Sunday, May 19: Florida, TBA

N.Y. RANGERS 3, CAROLINA 1

G1: N.Y.R. 4, Carolina 3

G2: N.Y.R. 4, Carolina 3 (OT)

G3: N.Y.R. 3, Carolina 2 (OT) game with a marker into an empty net as Dallas beat host Colorado 4-1 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

The victory gave Dallas a 2-1 lead in the best-ofseven series. Game 4 is Monday night in Denver.

G4: Carolina 4, N.Y.R. 3

Monday: at N.Y.R, 7 x-Thursday: at Carolina, 7 x-Saturday: at N.Y.R., TBA

WESTERN CONFERENCE

DALLAS 2, COLORADO 1

G1: Colorado 4, Dallas 3 (OT)

G2: Dallas 5, Colorado 3

G3: Dallas 4, Colorado 1

Monday: at Colorado, 9:30 Wednesday: at Dallas, 8 x-Friday: at Colorado, TBA x-Sunday, May 19: at Dallas, TBA

VANCOUVER 1, EDMONTON 1

G1: Vancouver 5, Edmonton 4

G2: Edmonton 4, Vancouver 3 (OT) Sunday: at Edmonton

Tuesday: at Edmonton, 9:30 Thursday: at Vancouver, TBA x-Saturday: at Edmonton, TBA x-Monday, May 20: at Vancouver, TBA

Logan Stankoven also had two goals and Jake Oettinger made 28 saves for Dallas, which took back home-ice advantage from Colorado.

The Avalanche’s only lead in the series came on Miles Wood’s overtime goal in Game 1.