Brendan Smith, Antti Raanta lead Carolina Hurricanes past New York Rangers in Game 2
RALEIGH, N.C. ā Brendan Smith had gone nine years since last finding the back of the net in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And Antti Raanta, well, he never had a postseason game like this.
The Carolina Hurricanes keep finding different ways to win in the playoffs. Itās why theyāre unbeaten at home, and up 2-0 again in a series.
Smith scored a short-handed goal late in the second period while Raanta had 21 saves for his first postseason shutout to help the Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Friday night, claiming Game 2 of their second-round series.
āI think if we just stick to our style, itās eventually going to wear on teams and weāre going to find a way to win,ā Smith said.
Smithās goal off a feed from Sebastian Aho was the difference in a tightly defended game by both teams with little space to operate and even fewer traffic-free looks at the net.
Aho added a clinching empty-net score to finish this off with 1.8 seconds left as Raanta held up.
It came two nights after the Hurricanes rallied to tie Game 1 in the final minutes on Ahoās tying third-period goal, then a rare OT score by defenseman Ian Cole. That came after a higher-scoring first-round series against Boston that went the full seven games.
āTeams that are still playing at this time of year, they can adapt to whatever the game is,ā Carolina coach Rod BrindāAmour said.
Now 6-0 at home in the playoffs, Carolina faces the challenge of winning on the road for the first time in the postseason after failing to win a road game against the Bruins.
Theyāll get their first chance to win at Madison Square Garden in Game 3 on Sunday. And the Rangers must mount another series comeback after rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat Pittsburgh in a seven-game first-round series.
āIām happy with the way weāve performed overall,ā Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. āI wish we wouldāve got one of these two games. We probably couldāve, but thatās the way it goes.ā
Igor Shesterkin finished with 20 saves to lead the Rangers on a night with few offensive highlights.
The teams combined for 43 shots and each had big penalty kills, with New York killing off more than a minute of 5-on-3 time while the Hurricanes scored their short-handed goal on a 4-minute kill for a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Brady Skjei.
CHANGING LOOKS
Carolina coach Rod BrindāAmour tweaked his lines a bit looking for a spark in the Game 1 comeback, then stuck with that look for Game 2.
Most notably, Teravainen moved up to the top line to play alongside Aho and rookie Seth Jarvis, while Andrei Svechnikov moved to the second line. BrindāAmour also moved up speedy skater Martin Necas to the second line and bumped Max Domi ā the Game 7 hero against Boston with two goals ā down to the fourth line.
The Rangers stayed with the same line pairings to start this one, though coach Gerard Gallant eventually moved Alexis LafrenieĢre up to the second line alongside Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome looking for a third-period spark.
RIGHT BACK IN
Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren left briefly after taking a puck to the mouth area near the boards slightly past the midway point of the first period. He was back on the bench, and soon after the ice, by late in the period.
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