The Carolina Hurricanes are down 2-0 in their series against the New York Rangers, following a double overtime loss in Game 2.
The Hurricanes’ major lineup change came with Evgeny Kuznetsov coming out of the lineup, and Max Comtois taking his place.
In the opening frame, the Hurricanes had an early power play opportunity about five minutes in, but couldn’t get much going. Then similar to Game 1, one of New York’s top forwards made them pay, when Alexis Lafereniere beat Frederik Andersen with a nice shot, giving the Rangers a lead midway through the period.
The Rangers then had a power play opportunity after Andrei Svechnikov took out Igor Shesterkin behind the net, but for the first time in the series, the Hurricanes managed to kill the Rangers’ man advantage. That made the difference for Carolina, and shortly after, Sebastian Aho put a shot on net from the point and Jake Guentzel was able to tip it in, tying the game.
Then later, with the teams at 4-on-4 and the game looking like it was poised to intermission tied, Dmitry Orlov went to the net to tip-in a point shot with just five seconds remaining, giving Carolina the lead through 20 minutes.
In the second period, we saw a repeat of the ending of Game 1, where the Hurricanes had a power play chance, but it was negated within seconds by an Andrei Svechnikov penalty. But after nothing came of the 4-on-4 time, later in the frame, Adam Fox made an excellent pass to the front of the net, where Lafreniere directed in his second goal of the game to tie things at 2.
Carolina ended up with a power play shortly after where Seth Jarvis had a great chance, but after the whistle, Jake Guentzel took a needless penalty, yet again negating a Hurricanes power play.
The Rangers sustained a ton of pressure shortly after that, but the Hurricanes were able to weather the storm. Then with under two minutes to go, Sebastian Aho found Guentzel for a one-timer, and he beat Shesterkin to put the Hurricanes back ahead through 40 minutes.
The teams opened the third period with some back-and-forth opportunities, carrying a pretty fast pace. But when Dmitry Orlov took a penalty about five minutes in, the Rangers had an opportunity to tie the game again and didn’t miss. While Andersen made the initial save on a shot in-close, he couldn’t locate it afterwards, and Chris Krieder got there to bury the rebound.
More opportunities followed at either end, before Jordan Martinook took a penalty, and the Hurricanes narrowly survived the Rangers’ man advantage. However, with only two minutes to go, Brady Skjei took a tripping penalty as well, giving New York a golden opportunity.
It was the Hurricanes who ended up having the best chances of the late power play though, first off a 2-on-1 chance where Shesterkin had to make a big save on Seth Jarvis, then another where Jalen Chatfield got a good whack at the puck from the slot but couldn’t score. The game continued to overtime from there, tied 3-3.
Chances continued in the extra frame, with Sebastian Aho getting a great opportunity on Shesterkin, before Jack Roslovic got a good shot off on a 2-on-1. The Hurricanes had a power play midway through the frame but once again couldn’t capitalize and then a little later, Andersen had to make a save on Zibanejad in alone.
The opportunities continued, and it seemed like almost every shot in the frame came off a quality chance, but with both goalies at the top of their game, neither team could break the tie through an initial overtime period.
Artemi Panarin had a great chance early in the second overtime frame, making a nice move to cut to the net, before being denied by Andersen. However, a 2-on-1 ended up going back the other way, resulting in Panarin hooking Martin Necas and taking a penalty. However, Carolina still couldn’t convert, and then shortly after, Brady Skjei took a penalty, giving the Rangers the advantage.
On the ensuing Rangers power play, after a series of a couple pinballed shots, a puck dropped down to Vincent Trocheck at the side of the net, and the ex-Hurricane slid the puck through Andersen to give New York the win, and a 2-0 series lead.
It’s a really tough result for Carolina, following what was one of the most exciting games of the playoffs so far. If a bounce goes differently, the Hurricanes are heading back home with a chance to really take hold of the series. They had their opportunities, putting 57 shots on Igor Shesterkin, and more than anything, this has just been a really even matchup through two games with a very small margin of error in the wins/losses.
Once again though, special teams had an impact. For the second game in a row, the Hurricanes went 0-for-5 on the power play, and the Rangers scored two power play goals. At least Carolina had some successful kills this time around as well, but the special teams battle remains the Hurricanes’ biggest hurdle to this point against New York.
The series also may be really heated already, but things are going to go south quickly if the Hurricanes can’t stay disciplined. In their power play opportunities between Games 1 and 2, Carolina has negated three of them, with Andrei Svechnikov and Jake Guentzel as the culprits. Especially with the power play not clicking, squandering the opportunities they’re given is another issue.
Taking Evgeny Kuznetsov out of the lineup was also a big statement from Rod Brind’Amour. The fourth line didn’t look good in Game 1, but if a change was going to be made, to me, the better way to go would be pulling out Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Kuznetsov may be a little hot and cold, but Kotkaniemi has failed to make an impact through most of the year and still doesn’t have a point in the postseason. In a Game 2 that went almost 90 minutes, it’s also telling that Kotkaniemi played only about nine minutes.
On the other end though, the Hurricanes’ top line was great once again. Sebastian Aho in particular has really stepped up in Round 2 after a fairly quiet opening round, assisting on two of Jake Guentzel’s goals.
Regardless, down 2-0 is a tough spot for Carolina. It’s been such a close series to this point, and the Hurricanes have ultimately played well at 5-on-5, so there’s certainly hope they can take both of their home games to even the series.
But in what’s pretty much a must win Game 3, the Hurricanes desperately need to sort out their special teams situation to climb back into the series.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM THE SERIES
- Previewing Round 2: Hurricanes vs. Rangers
- Special teams battle makes the difference in Canes' Game 1 loss to Rangers
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