The Rangers had a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
But after a horrific third period, the Blueshirts will have to travel back down to Raleigh to win the series against Carolina.
The Hurricanes forced a Game 6 following a 4-1 victory in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.
Jordan Martinook, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Jordan Staal all registered goals for the Hurricanes in the third period. Martin Necas scored an empty-net goal with 3:31 remaining to put the Hurricanes up 4-1.
Staal and Kuznetsov’s goals were just 3:06 apart. Jacob Trouba scored the Rangers’ only goal during the second period.
The Rangers have lost two straight after winning their first seven games of this postseason.
“We will address it tomorrow,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said after the game. “It wasn’t a reflection of who we were a majority of the year.
“Anytime you don’t play up to your capabilities, you’re concerned about that. I also know that this group has had games like that before, and they responded.
“There’s accountability that goes with that. There are things that we can do better.”
Down 1-0 at the end of the second period, the Hurricanes finally looked like the team many expected when the series began. They scored three unanswered goals after Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin was flawless through the first 40 minutes. Shesterkin stopped 24 of 27 shots on the night.
After giving up a goal in the second period, Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen went unblemished. He stopped 20 of 21 shots.
The Rangers’ defense, or lack thereof, was a problem throughout the night. Carolina was able to get close to the net without much resistance most of the night. But it just took the Hurricanes until the third period before they were able to break through.
Carolina players have been tired of the talk about its special teams unit throughout the series. But power-play issues continued to haunt the Hurricanes in Monday’s game.
On their first power play of the game, the Hurricanes were unable to capitalize, and Trouba scored an unassisted short-handed goal. Carolina was 0 for 3 on power play chances.
Throughout the series, the Hurricanes have only scored one power-play goal in 20 chances. However, the Hurricanes did well during their penalty kill chances. The Rangers were 0 for 3 on power play opportunities in Game 5.
During the regular season, Carolina had the second-best power play (26.9%) and the best penalty kill (86.4%) in the NHL.
“I wouldn’t say that it snowballed tonight,” Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. “It is a seven-game series against a team that was three points behind us.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Early in the first period, the two teams had a good back-and-forth. Also, both Shesterkin and Andersen were sharp. With less than three minutes remaining in the first period, the Hurricanes had an opportunity to get on the board first, but Shesterkin turned the team away after a few excellent saves at the net.
Despite the Rangers going on a power play late in the first period following a Kuznetsov slashing penalty, the score remained scoreless after 20 minutes. Both teams combined to have 18 shots in the first period.
The Rangers received another power play 3:47 into the second period, but they came away empty-handed once again. It wasn’t until the Blueshirt committed a penalty that the team finally got on the scoreboard.
After Jack Roslovic was called for tripping (5:56), Trouba hit a snapshot short-handed goal past Andersen, putting the Rangers up 1-0. The goal was the Rangers’ fourth short-handed goal of the playoffs, the most the team has registered in any postseason since 1991-92.
Rangers winger Will Cuylle was called for tripping with 10 seconds left in the second period. But the Hurricanes couldn’t capitalize on the penalty.
Finally, at 3:33 in the third period, the Hurricanes tied the game 1-1 after Staal got around to Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider and used a backhanded shot to get the puck past Shesterkin.
Carolina took a 2-1 lead three minutes later (6:39) after Kuznetsov buried the puck following a rebound on a Brady Skjei shot. Following the goal, a frustrated Artemi Panarin slammed his stick up against the glass.
The Hurricanes extended their lead to 3-1 after Martinook scored his second goal of the playoffs. The Rangers pulled Shesterkin with 3:44 remaining, but Necas scored an empty-net goal that put the Hurricanes up 4-1.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. “They won today, we are still up 3-2.
“One game. We know what we can do. We know that’s a good team and we just have to focus on us and what we can do. I think we have enough confidence in our group.”
Filip Chytil was unavailable to play in Game 5 and is considered day-to-day. He missed Saturday’s game with an illness, and now, according to sources, he is battling soreness. This is believed to be unrelated to his previous concussion.
Rookie Matt Rempe returned to the Rangers lineup with both Chytil and Jonny Brodzinski scratched. Chytil missed Game 4 due to illness and was replaced in the lineup by Brodzinkski. Rempe sat out both Game 3 and 4.
Game 6 will be played on Thursday at PNC Arena at 7 p.m.
