Carolina has heard about its putrid special teams unit the entire postseason.
Late in the third period, the Hurricanes showed resilience and finally scored a game-winning power-play goal to stave off elimination.
With 3:43 remaining in the third period, Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren was called for tripping. Then, with a 5-on-4 advantage, ex-Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei scored the game-winning power-play goal with 3:11 left in regulation, giving the Hurricanes a 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The loss was the Rangers’ first of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs after they had won their first seven games. The Blueshirts now lead the series, 3-1.
“I thought our guys had all the right intentions again right away,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Tied it up and it went into kind of a back and forth game. Pretty even until the power play.”
All four games in the series have been decided by one goal, including the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime victory on Thursday.
Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teräväinen finished with two points, both off assists. Skjei, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen, and Sebastian Aho all scored goals for the Hurricanes.
Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, and Barclay Goodrow registered goals for the Rangers, but it wasn’t enough.
After sitting in Game 3, Frederik Andersen was back between the pipes for the Hurricanes. Pyotr Kochetkov, who started for Andersen, stopped 22 of 25 shots during the 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers in Game 3 on Thursday. Andersen stopped 22 of 25 shots on Saturday night.
Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin has arguably been the best goaltender during this year’s postseason. But he allowed four goals on 31 shots, snapping his streak of allowing three or fewer goals in 30 consecutive starts.
Before Skjei’s goal, the Hurricanes were 0-for-15 on power play chances during the series’ first three games. They also have allowed seven penalty-kill goals on 24 opportunities during the playoffs.
In just the first period, both teams combined to score four goals.
Just 1:51 into Saturday night’s contest, Right winger Andrei Svechnikov put the Hurricanes on the board first with an unassisted wrist shot that gave them an early 1-0 lead. Carolina added to its lead after Stefan Noesen‘s fourth goal of the playoffs (6:33) to go up 2-0.
The Rangers quickly answered and cut the lead to 2-1 (8:06) after Cuylle broke free alone and gave Kaapo Kakko an excellent pass in stride. The Hurricanes extended their lead to 3-1 after Jake Guentzel fed Sebastian Aho, who used a snapshot to get the puck past Shesterkin.
The score remained the same throughout most of the second period. However, Barclay Goodrow cut the Hurricanes lead to 3-2 after he tipped in Braden Schneider‘s shot from the top of the zone.
WIth 2:04 into the third period, the Rangers tied the game 3-3 after LaFrenere’s backhand shot off Andersen. Mika Zibanejad and Jacob Trouba assisted on the goal.
With the 5-on-4 advantage, Skjei’s slap shot goal went past Shesterkin through the net to give the Hurricanes the one-score victory.
Filip Chytil missed Saturday’s game two days after returning for his first action since November. He didn’t participate during the Rangers’ morning skate after Laviolette told reporters Chytil was battling an illness. Laviolette didn’t specify Chytil’s illness but said he would be a game-time decision.
Game 5 between the Rangers and Hurricanes will be Monday at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
“There’s a lot that goes into it that can work in your favor,” Laviolette said. “We have to make sure we take care of what we do on the ice.
“Certainly, the fans, even the ones that were in the building tonight, we could hear them. We are going back to our building that’s been so good, so strong. Our fans are incredible. Having that energy in the building behind us will be important.”
