The New York Rangers were able to secure their last ticket to the Conference Finals with an away win in Raleigh. This means there will be a new edition of the 2014/15 final.
As in Round 1, the Rangers had to go the full distance in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and again had the upper hand. In Carolina, the Rangers, supported by another strong Igor Shesterkin, won 6-2 and thus bought their ticket for the Eastern Conference Final – they already met Tampa there in 2014/15, back then they had to end up with 3 :4 beaten. In Game 7, Chris Kreider contributed two goals, and Filip Chytil, who scored a brace in Game 6, was also successful. The Hurricanes were struggling with the injury of Antti Raanta, who had to be substituted halfway through the game, with Frederik Andersen’s injury replaced by the nominal number 3, 22-year-old Pyotr Kotchetkov.
In the end, the New Yorkers also had the goal difference clearly on their side – it was 20:13 after seven games. It didn’t start well for the Rangers, they only scored one goal in the first two games, Carolina continued to demonstrate their strength at home. The Rangers found a way to defeat the Hurricanes’ netminders, especially in Games 6 and 7, scoring more than 50% of their goals in those two games.
For Carolina, the playoff run ends again in round 2 – last year they were eliminated there against Tampa. Ironically, in the decisive Game 7, the Canes lost their first home game, and the Hurricanes’ home/away statistics are also bizarre: eight home games, seven wins; six away games, six defeats. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s team just couldn’t manage to defeat Igor Shesterkin at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Russian put on a fabulous run and meets fellow Russian Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Conference Finals.
hockey-news.info , Bild: facebook.com/nyrangers
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