Chris Kreider picked a good time to produce the New York Rangers’ first postseason hat trick in nine years.
Kreider scored three consecutive goals in the third period on Thursday to rally the Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., clinching the Eastern Conference second-round series in six games.
“End result of us shooting more,” Kreider said of his hat trick. “I just happened to be on the end of a bunch of those plays.”
New York awaits its opponent for the conference finals. The Florida Panthers lead the Boston Bruins 3-2 going into Game 6 on Friday in the other East semifinal.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, Barclay Goodrow scored, Jack Roslovic and Artemi Panarin each had two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves for the Rangers, who are the first Presidents’ Trophy winner to advance to the conference finals since they did so in 2015.
Carolina’s Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist. Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis also scored, Andrei Svechnikov had two assists and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who led 3-1 entering the third period before Kreider’s onslaught.
“There’s a play here and there (in the series) and everything’s different, and we just didn’t find it,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Even tonight, another goal puts the game in a different story when we had our opportunities.”
Kreider began the comeback when he scored at 6:43 of the third to make it 3-2.
“They’re doing such a good job getting pucks to the net,” Kreider said of his teammates. “You’re going to get chances when that happens.”
Kreider tied it 3-3 with a tip-in while New York was on a power play at 11:54 of the third period. He made it 4-3 at 15:41, scoring off a wraparound pass from Ryan Lindgren.
“We knew that we could score two goals in the third period,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “We had to go out and get something done, and I just thought the guys went out and pushed really hard.”
Goodrow sealed the victory when he scored into an empty net with 49 seconds remaining.
The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead at 18:38 of the first period when Jordan Martinook made a backhand pass from behind the net to Necas, who lifted the puck into the top right corner of the net.
After outshooting the Rangers 8-3 in the opening period, the Hurricanes moved ahead 2-0 when Jarvis swept a loose puck into the net while on a power play at 4:38 of the second.
The Rangers scored 51 seconds later on a tip-in by Trocheck to cut it to 2-1.
Aho kept the puck at the end of a two-on-one and scored over Shesterkin’s right pad to extend the lead to 3-1 at 9:23 of the second period.
Martinook slid headfirst to save a goal with just under seven minutes left in the second period.
“It’s a special group in there,” Brind’Amour said of the Hurricanes. “This is a tough way to end a really good year. These guys played their butts off all year, but this is what you’re going to remember. That’s the hard part.”
–Field Level Media
