Carolina keeps season alive in third period
NEW YORK — Trailing by a goal with 20 minutes to go and their season on the line, the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t discouraged. They knew they could turn the game around.
Jordan Staal and Yevgeny Kuznetsov scored 3:06 apart early in the third period, and the Hurricanes got four goals in the period for a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the second-round playoff series on Monday night, staving off elimination forthe second straight game.
“There was no panic, we understood what the situation was,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It wasn’t like we were dead. ...
You were one shot away, and that’s the way they approached it.”
Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas also scored in the Hurricanes’ big third period, and Frederik Andersen — starting for the fourth time in five games in this series and ninth time in 10 games in the postseason — had 20 saves.
“No one was definitely hanging any heads,” Staal said, “We knew we had to have our best period, and we did. We’re going to have another huge challenge going back home in a couple of days. ... We’re fighting for our lives and the boys showed up and it showed.”
Jacob Trouba scored a short-handed goal and Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots for New York, which has lost two straight after taking a 30 series lead.