Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves and Andrew Copp collected a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers evened their Eastern Conference second-round series with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 on Tuesday.
The Rangers won their fifth straight home game since losing the postseason opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins in triple overtime. The Hurricanes fell to 0-5 on the road in this year’s postseason.
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday in Raleigh, N.C., and Game 6 is Saturday in New York.
New York’s Frank Vatrano and Adam Fox scored goals 2:11 apart in the first period and Mika Zibanejad scored for the second straight game, late in the second. Copp set up New York’s first two goals and scored after Shesterkin lost his shutout bid in the third period.
Teuvo Teravainen scored with 13:27 remaining for Carolina, which has been outscored 21-8 in its playoff road games so far. The Hurricanes joined the 1992 Montreal Canadiens and 1976 Toronto Maple Leafs as the third team to lose the first five postseason road games.
Carolina’s Antti Raanta finished with 24 saves.
Shesterkin opened the game with a sprawling save against Brett Pesce, a little over a minute in. Early in the second, he made a diving stop on Teravainen.
After the Rangers had five shots on goal during their first power play and did not score, Vatrano opened the scoring with 6:29 remaining in the opening period.
He was initially hemmed in along the boards by Jordan Staal, but he was able to get to the right side of the net, where he waited for Copp’s pass through the slot and slid the puck over Raanta’s glove.
New York scored again when Copp prevented Vincent Trocheck from clearing the zone and moved the puck to Lindgren, whose off-balance wrist shot from the left point was deflected in by Fox.
Raanta prevented the Rangers from taking a three-goal lead during a Carolina power play when he dived to stop Zibanejad with 9:35 remaining in the middle period. A little over six minutes later, Zibanejad left a drop pass for Lindgren, crashed the net to get the rebound of the initial shot and flipped a backhander into the net after the puck stayed in the crease.
The Hurricanes finally broke through when Teravainen lifted the puck over Shesterkin following a turnover by New York defenseman K’Andre Miller. Copp found enough space in the high slot for a tally with 8:50 left.
–Field Level Media
