Hurricanes score 4 in third period, rally to beat Rangers 4-1 in Game 5 to avoid elimination
Game 6 is Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jordan Staal and Yevgeny Kuznetsov scored 3:06 apart in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes got four goals in the third for a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the second-round playoff series on Monday night, staving off elimination for the second straight game.
Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas also scored in the Hurricanes' big third period, and Frederik Andersen - starting for the fourth time in five games in this series and ninth time in 10 games in the postseason - had 20 saves.
Jacob Trouba scored a short-handed goal and Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots for New York, which has lost two straight after taking a 3-0 series lead.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Hurricanes won despite going 0 for 3 on the power play to fall to 1 for 20 in this series while giving up a short-handed goal for the second time.
Staal tied it 1-1 at 3:33 as he got a pass from Dmitry Orlov, skated around one Rangers defender in the left circle, came in on Shesterkin and beat him with a backhanded shot that went around the leg of the sprawled goalie. It was Orlov's first goal of the playoffs.
Kuznetsov then gave the Hurricanes the lead as he knocked in the rebound of Brady Skjei's shot from the right side for his fourth of the postseason.
Martinook made it 3-1 just before the midpoint of the period. Necas sent a centering pass from the end boards, and the puck went off Jack Drury's stick to Martinook, and he quickly sent a shot that beat Shesterkin.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin for an extra skater with 3:44 to go, but Necas sent a long shot that went into the empty net 15 seconds later.
The Rangers got a power play when Orlov was called for roughing at 3:47 of the second period. Shortly after the penalty expired, New York's Jack Roslovic was whistled for tripping, putting Carolina's struggling power play on the advantage. However, it was the Rangers who broke through.
Trouba blocked a shot by Sebastian Aho, skated up the ice on 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Andersen at 6:23. It was his first goal of the playoffs and the Rangers' fourth short-handed tally.
The Hurricanes got another power play at the midpoint of the period, but didn't get a shot on goal during the advantage. Shesterkin then denied Drury's point-blank try with 6 minutes to go in the second.
Carolina had a 10-9 advantage on shots on goal in a scoreless and fast-paced first period. Both teams had chances and the goalies had to make several nice saves.
Shesterkin had a skate save on Staal about 2 1/2 minutes in and then had a pad save on another try by Staal at 8:41. He also turned aside Jake Guenzel's breakaway attempt with about 3 minutes remaining.
Andersen had a right pad save on Chris Kreider in close with about 6 minutes to in the period.
New York got the first power play of the game when Kuznetsov was sent off for slashing with 1:55 left in the first. However, the Rangers managed just one shot on goal during the advantage.
Rangers rookie sensation Matt Rempe was back in the starting lineup after sitting out Games 3 and 4. Filip Chytil played in his place in Game 3 and Jonny Brodzinski in Game 4.
