Rangers are poised for their second consecutive sweep after Panarin’s overtime victory.

The New York Rangers gained momentum after overturning an early deficit, only to blow it late with a crucial playoff road win only minutes away.
They nevertheless managed to win in overtime for the second game in a row, maintaining their perfect record in the NHL playoffs and getting one step closer to the Eastern Conference final.

The Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Thursday night to grab a 3-0 lead in the second-round series. Artemi Panarin beat Pyotr Kochetkov with a pass between his knees in the crease only 1:43 into overtime.
With only 1:36 remaining in regulation, Andrei Svechnikov of the Hurricanes tied the game with an extra attacker goal. Panarin put an end to it, shocking Carolina’s usually raucous fans for the overtime session. But when the time came, the Rangers seized the opportunity to surprise Carolina in a regular-season game between two of the top three teams in the league.
Regarding the interval before to overtime, New York coach Peter Laviolette said, “This is a resilient group, and they’ve been in these situations before.” “And I think [it was] just sending messaging that we’re doing the right things, we were going to finish this because of what we’ve been through and the way we’re playing the game right now.”
Naturally, having a finisher such as Panarin is beneficial.
Dmitry Orlov of Carolina lost possession of the puck in the defensive zone corner, setting up the decisive play. Defenseman Jalen Chatfield attempted to push Panarin away from the crease, but Vincent Trocheck grabbed the puck on the right side and threw it into the goal, where Panarin flicked it behind him.
Panarin began to celebrate as the puck slid under Kochetkov’s right elbow and past his ribs. The Rangers quickly joined him close to the entrance as they headed off the ice into the tunnel.
Trocheck said, “I believe Orlov, the puck bounced off his stick.” “And then I just saw a little bit of daylight, saw Bread [Panarin] crashing the net, and it was a great tip by him.”
After sweeping Washington in Round 1, the Rangers are 7-0 in the playoffs. This Saturday night, they will try to finish the sweep in Game 4.
After a tying rush up the ice in the second period, Chris Kreider scored a shorthanded goal; in the third, Alexis Lafreniere gave New York a 2-1 lead.
Just as the Rangers were about to win in regulation, Svechnikov handed Carolina one more chance. Brady Skjei’s outside shot near the right post caused Sebastian Aho’s stick to shatter as the ball bounced off Aho’s stick, initiating the action.
However, the ball returned to the slot, where Svechnikov successfully zipped it past Adam Fox, who was diving, and over Igor Shesterkin’s (45 saves) shoulder to level the game at two.
Carolina’s Jake Guentzel scored in the first period, and Kochetkov, 24, took over in goal after the experienced Frederik Andersen had started the previous seven playoff games with 22 saves.
But by the end, Carolina had lost eight straight postseason games, all by a single goal, dating back to Florida’s three-game victory in the Eastern Conference Final of the previous season. Two of the previous five defeats occurred during overtime.
“It sounds like a broken record,” said Jordan Staal, the captain of Carolina.
The Rangers, who won the Metropolitan Division, also took home the Presidents’ Trophy as the best regular-season team in the league, and the Hurricanes, who were making their sixth straight postseason appearance, finished three points behind and were the clear favourites to win the Stanley Cup. All of this suggested that the series would be very dramatic.
However, the Rangers have made this seem like a confident, clutch move.
In addition to Panarin’s goal, Kreider’s rush up the ice past Brent Burns to complete a pass from Mika Zibanejad resulted in a short-handed goal that knotted the game and sapped Carolina’s continued momentum after Guentzel’s first goal. And that, combined with New York’s evident advantage on special teams so far, summed up another difficult night for Carolina on the power play.
Carolina, the second-best power play team in the league, went 0-for-5 with the man advantage after going 0-for-5 in each of the previous two games. This made them 0-for-15 overall in the series.
Despite giving up four goals in the previous two games, Carolina’s penalty kill stood strong against four power plays and maintained consistent performance in 5-on-5 play this time around.
“This is two games going on,” said Rod Brind’Amour, the coach of Carolina. It’s what’s happening if you want to write the correct tale. And we’re rapidly losing one. On the other hand, we’re doing pretty darn okay. The difference, then, is just in how we can figure out how to make this narrative a little bit better.”
With forward Filip Chytil, who had been declared out for the season in January, seeing play for the first time since November due to an upper-body ailment, the Rangers made their own lineup alteration.

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