Rangers look to close out Hurricanes after suffering 1st loss of Stanley Cup Playoffs

There is a first time for everything and for the New York Rangers, a first happened on Saturday night in Raleigh. 

The Carolina Hurricanes scored three first-period goals and went 1-for-2 on the power play while their penalty kill kept the Blueshirts off the board in a 4-3 Game 4 victory to keep their season alive.

With it comes the first loss of the postseason for the Rangers, who swept the Washington Capitals in the first round and took the first three games of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Carolina. 

Closeout games are always the most difficult to win. Just ask any NHL player or coach that has experienced the playoffs. But they are even more difficult when going up against an aggressive side like the Hurricanes, whose tenacious style of play received an added boost with the desperation that came with staring down the barrel of elimination. 

That extra pressure seemed to cause problems with the Rangers’ defense.

“I don’t think it was because we weren’t ready to play,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters after the loss on Saturday night. “I think maybe the chances were 7-6 us or 6-6, somewhere in that area. It wasn’t a lot, but the ones we gave up were pretty noisy. They were loud. We’ve got to come out a little bit sharper than that. We were competing. We were working. We were trying to do our job offensively, but there’s some things defensively that I felt we could have been a little bit better at in the first period.”

The sizable silver lining is that the Rangers not only are headed home to Madison Square Garden for Game 5, but their bounceback from a difficult opening period in the hostile environment that is PNC Arena buoyed confidence.

New York scored the next two goals to tie the game — Alexis Lafreniere continuing his strong showing in the playoffs with the equalizing tally 2:04 into the third period. But it was former Ranger Brady Skjei who grabbed the winner with 3:11 to go in regulation with a power-play one-timer from the point that snuck past Igor Shesterkin.

“I think we were pretty calm after the first,” star forward Mika Zibanejad said. “Obviously, that’s not the way you want it. You always want a good start, but if that doesn’t happen how do you react. I thought we worked ourselves back in the game and unfortunately we lose it at the end on their power-play goal.”

Rangers vs. Hurricanes Game 5 info, odds

• Date: May 13, 7 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN
• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Spread: Hurricanes -1.5
• Hurricanes Moneyline: -118
• Rangers Moneyline: -102
• Over/Under: 5.5

Odds courses of DraftKings. For more, click here.

For more on the Rangers, visit AMNY.com