RALEIGH, N.C. — If the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes meet in the playoffs next month, it has the potential to be a really great series.
The teams met for the second time in three days Thursday at PNC Arena and produced an instant classic. It was a taut nailbiter that saw Igor Shesterkin turn in another dynamite performance to keep the Hurricanes at bay until Adam Fox’s goal at 4:01 of the third period broke a tie and pushed the Rangers to a 2-1 victory.
For Fox, the goal, a snap shot over the right shoulder of Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, broke what had been a 24-game goal drought, his last goal having come in a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Jan. 23. For Shesterkin, who made 29 saves, many of them brilliant, the victory was his sixth in his last seven starts, and improved his record to 33-12-7.
For the Rangers (42-20-10), the victory gave them the season series over the Hurricanes (46-16-8), three games to one. The Blueshirts, who were outshot 30-16, will travel to Florida to play the Panthers on Saturday.
With the win, their fifth in six games, and seventh in nine (7-1-1) the Rangers pulled within six points of first-place Carolina and four of the idle Devils in the Metropolitan Division. They have 10 games remaining.
Early in the game, it didn’t look as if the Rangers were going to be able to stay with Carolina. They started the game without defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who had returned to the lineup for Tuesday’s game at the Garden against Carolina after missing 11 games with a left shoulder injury, but then sat out for the 12th time in the last 13 games.
The Hurricanes dominated possession in the opening period and led 1-0 on a goal by Sebastian Aho at 16:47, but the Rangers were very fortunate to be that close, as that was largely because Shesterkin was fantastic, making some dazzling saves, as the Rangers were outshot 13-3 in the period.
The Rangers did have a golden chance to grab momentum when, as they were being outshot 7-0, they were given a five-on-three power play for 1:49. First, Jack Drury, the nephew of Rangers GM Chris Drury, was sent off for cross-checking Tyler Motte at 10:05. Then, at 10:16, Jordan Staal was sent off for flipping the puck over the glass.
That led to the Rangers getting their first three shots on goal, plus another shot, by Mika Zibanejad, that went off the crossbar. But the Hurricanes killed the penalties, and the home crowd (which was infiltrated, as usual, by hundreds of Ranger fans) let out a loud roar after it was over, which seemed to give energy to the Hurricanes.
Aho scored from the high slot on a rush, and when Zibanejad was sent off for a holding penalty with 24.5 seconds left in the period, that allowed Carolina to carry momentum into the second period, as they started with the remainder of the power play, for the first 1:35.
But they couldn’t extend the lead. And when Shesterkin made an incredible save, sliding post-to-post to get his blocker pad on a one-timer by Jesse Puljujarvi with 12:45 remaining, the Rangers seemed to pick things up.
Coach Gerard Gallant made a couple tweaks to his top two lines for a few shifts, swapping Tarasenko with Patrick Kane, and the visitors started to get some pressure on Andersen. The Rangers tied it at 10:33 of the period, on a goal by Artemi Panarin, who buried a pass from Zibanejad, who had gotten a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko to send him up the right wing.
