Since the playoffs began, the Rangers had not been truly challenged.
That was until the Hurricanes came full throttle in Game 2 Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, where a rambunctious crowd cheered on the Blueshirts as they overcame two deficits in regulation before Vincent Trocheck scored a power-play goal in double overtime to secure a 4-3 win and a 2-0 grip on the series as it heads to Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina funneled a staggering 57 shots on goal and the Rangers came out on the other side with their sixth straight postseason victory.
This was a game where a team has to show what it is made of, and the Rangers have proved to still be unbreakable.
“I think we built the confidence in the regular season, we’re down a goal, I think we have more than a couple comeback wins this year,” captain Jacob Trouba said, alluding to the team’s franchise-record and NHL-leading 28 comeback wins this regular season. “That’s something that you build throughout the year. It’s not like we’re grasping for something we’ve never done or don’t know how to do.
“Resilient, resilient effort. Stuck with it. Some good chances, obviously power play comes up big and Troch with a big goal.”
The Rangers, who seemingly had significantly less punch in their game than they’ve had lately, were still able to rely on their recent recipe for playoff success: goalie Igor Shesterkin, specialty teams and a star player coming up big.
Shesterkin made 17 saves in the third period alone on the way to 54 on the night, while the penalty kill was perfect for the second straight game and the power play scored the two most important goals of the night.
Despite some dominant stretches from the Hurricanes, the Rangers never fell behind by more than a goal before Chris Kreider tied it up at three-all on a power-play goal just over six minutes into the third period.
“We’re working hard,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “I know what they have on the other side for the power play and I think our penalty kill is working really hard and trying to do the right things. We’ve gotten big saves from Igor when we’ve needed him.”
Alexis Lafreniere led the Rangers with his first two goals of the playoffs, snapping a goal-less streak of 28 postseason games after a breakout regular season, while the Hurricanes’ trade deadline-pickup Jake Guentzel posted two goals.
It felt like the Hurricanes had the Rangers under siege from the end of the first period and through a majority of the second, but Shesterkin stood his ground until Lafreniere tied it up at the 7:32 mark of the middle frame.
Adam Fox patiently hung onto the puck before dishing to a crashing Lafreniere, who buried his second of the game and pointed directly at the Rangers’ defenseman to credit him for the pass.
A careless neutral-zone giveaway by Trouba, however, allowed the Canes to barrel into the offensive zone before Sebastian Aho set up Guentzel streaking down the middle for the 3-2 lead.
The Rangers’ captain also took three penalties in the victory, including one in the first overtime.
“Just kind of the makeup of the team,” Trouba said. “It’s been like that for a while, I feel like there’s never really panic in the room in between periods, whatever it may be, I think we have the confidence. Confidence is something that you build throughout the course of the year. I don’t think we ever feel like we’re out of games and we have a lot of high-end players who have the ability to put the puck in the net.”
