When everything seemed hopeless for the Rangers in Game 6, they still found a way to eliminate the Hurricanes and earn themselves a trip to the conference finals.
In the NHL playoffs, anything is possible.
The New York Rangers rallied their way back from a two-goal deficit in the third period of Game 6 en route to a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, earning them a trip to the conference finals.
The Rangers were sitting pretty last week as they held a 3-0 series lead, but Carolina managed to rattle off two consecutive victories, making this second round series a lot more interesting than originally anticipated.
Fresh off an embarrassing 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden, all the pressure was on New York going into Game 6.
Through the first two periods, the Hurricanes picked up right where they left off and displayed absolute domination over the Rangers.
Carolina was the faster, more physical and ferocious team on the ice through 40 minutes of play. Meanwhile, the Rangers were lifeless and overall just looked absolutely defeated.
It was a struggle for New York to generate any sort of offense mostly due to the smothering defense of Carolina.
Suddenly though, everything seemed to shift in the third period.
All the Rangers needed was an ugly goal, and that’s exactly what they got. Chris Kreider snuck the puck past the pad of Frederick Anderson to cut Carolina’s lead to just 3-2.
Through the previous two games the Rangers failed to score a single power play goal, but when New York went on a man advantage at around the midpoint of the period, they made sure to capitalize on their golden opportunity.
Kreider scored his second goal of the period and just like that the Rangers tied it up at 3-3 to the stun all fans at PNC Arena.
The dynamic of this game completely changed within an instant and New York started to dominate puck possession and were firing on all cylinders, the way Carolina did earlier in the contest.
With a few minutes remaining in the game, Kreider completed the hat trick, which propelled the Rangers to a magical come from behind series clincher.
Despite all of the momentum stacked against them, the Rangers found a way to play a perfect period of hockey to push them past the finish line into the conference finals.
It really shows the heart that this team possesses. It’s a testament to the coaching of Peter Laviolette and the culture that has been established by players including Jacob Trouba, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, Artemi Panarin and Kreider.
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The Rangers proved that they are not just a great team, but a real Stanley Cup contending team that will not back down from a little bit of adversity.
It’s in the playoffs where magical memories are made and the Rangers just created one that will live in the history books forever.