Media by: ASSOCIATED PRESS – Carolina Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho plays during an NHL hockey game
The New York Rangers avoid falling into a deep hole by grabbing a 3-1 win at home in Game 3 to cut their deficit in the series to 2-1.
What was most important for the Rangers was getting a good result against Carolina. Entering Game 3, the Rangers had lost eight of their past ten games against their Metropolitan Division foe.
While New York should certainly be celebrating its win, there were several red flags. Carolina did a lot of things right during Game 3, but didn’t put the puck in the back of the net.
The Hurricanes will hope to find their scoring touch and grab a victory in Game 4 to take a commanding lead in the series.
Here’s a look at what Carolina needs to do in order to get back on top.
Creating a storm on the power play
The Hurricanes had a good power play during the regular season, ranking 13th in the league by converting on 22 percent of their opportunities.
During the postseason, Carolina has been doing everything the hard way. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Hurricanes are 0-of-7 on the man advantage.
In Game 3, Carolina went 0-for-3 in their opportunities.
Bucking/protecting trends
New York opened the postseason by dropping its first home game in triple overtime. Since losing that game to the Penguins, New York has rolled off four consecutive home playoff victories. Carolina is 0-4 on the road thus far in the postseason.
How Game 3 was won
New York was outshot, lost more faceoffs, and got fewer shots on the net than Carolina did in Game 3. However, the Rangers were able to capture the victory thanks to their toughness.
New York held a 17-7 edge in takeaways. Chris Kreider scored the game’s only power-play goal for New York, and the Rangers finished with a 23-17 edge in hits.
Igor’s world
New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin had only played in 47 NHL regular-season games before this season. But since he broke into the lineup this season, Shesterkin has made the most of his opportunities. During the regular season, Shesterkin finished with a .935 save percentage and collected six shutouts.
During the postseason, Shesterkin has put together a 5-4 record thus far, with a .921 save percentage and 2.95 goals-against average. In Game 3, Shesterkin was put to the test more, being forced to make 43 stops after only making 46 combined in the first two games.
Don’t expect fireworks
The over/under has been set at 5.5 for each game of this series, and none of the games have threatened to touch that number. Game 3 produced a series-high four goals.
The first two games both went comfortably under the total, with the first game producing three goals and the second game seeing two go in.
Survive and advance
New York will be desperate to move on to find a way to move on to the second round as the Rangers have advanced further than the conference semifinals since the 2014-15 season.
Carolina hasn’t been to the conference finals since the 2018-19 season.
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