Chris Kreider had a natural hat trick in the third period to rally the New York Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday night, clinching the Eastern Conference second-round series in six games.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, Jack Roslovic and Artemi Panarin each had two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves for the Rangers, who await their 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.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, 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.
Kreider made it 4-3 at 15:41 of the third period, scoring off a wraparound pass from Ryan Lindgren. Kreider had tied it 3-3 with a tip-in while on a power play at 11:54.
Barclay 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, but Kreider began the comeback when he scored at 6:43 of the third to make it 3-2.
–Field Level Media