NHL: New York Rangers take on Carolina Hurricanes

Thursday, May 26, 2022. 8:45 PM

SUMMARY

Vincent Trocheck put the Hurricanes ahead with a shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1 attack. Trocheck beat goaltender Igor Shesterkin following a superb lifted pass from Jordan Staal after a turnover on the Carolina blue line when Jacob Trouba literally had the puck taken away.

In fact, Trouba hears the murmurs of the crowd every time he touches the puck, a form of retaliation for his hard-hitting check against Max Domi in the last game.

Mika Zibanejad tied the game for the Rangers by hitting the target with a one-timer slap shot on the power play.

The Hurricanes finally got some help from their massive offense when Teuvo Teravainen hit the target in second after a nice pass exchange. He beat Shesterkin when he was on his right to give his team a 2-1 lead. It was Carolina’s first power-play goal of the series.

Goal disallowed

Rangers believed they had taken the lead at 4:57 of the second period when Ryan Strome hit the target in the upper end, but a video review request from the Hurricanes showed the visitors were offside before the goal .

Pre-game notes:

The Carolina Hurricanes hope to continue their perfect streak at home in Game 5 of the series against the New York Rangers on Thursday at the PNC Arena.

This series is tied 2-2.

Since the start of the playoffs, the Canes have won all their games in front of their fans, but they can’t win on the road. Moreover, they lowered the flag 4-1 Tuesday at Madison Square Garden to allow the Rangers to level the odds.

Carolina is 6-0 at home. It’s the longest single-year home playoff winning streak in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history.

When a series is 2-2, the club that wins the fifth game removes the series in almost 79% of cases.

Special teams play a crucial role in the outcome of a game and to hope to win the series, the Hurricanes’ massive offense will have to be more productive. So far, Rod Brind’Amour’s team has scored only once in 18 power plays since Game 6 against Boston.

In addition to scoring on the power play, the Hurricanes will have to break through the wall of goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, who continues to multiply his prowess in front of his goal. In the last game, he had 30 saves and 43 in the previous game.

Shesterkin is posting a .939 save percentage with a 1.98 goals-against average since being cut in games three and four against the Penguins.