Playoff Takeaways: Hurricanes stay alive, hand Rangers first loss of playoffs

The New York Rangers were one win away from doing something no other NHL club has done for half a century. 

Rolling through this 2024 post-season like a red-white-and-blue wrecking ball, the Rangers took the ice Saturday night hunting for a series clincher. With a Game 4 win under the PNC Arena lights, New York not only would have booked their ticket to the second round, they would’ve become the first team in 55 years to open a playoff run with back-to-back series sweeps.

Instead, the Carolina Hurricanes came out flying, fought for their playoff lives, and spoiled the party.

It was just as tightly contested as every instalment of this series has been — another one-goal game, requiring a late, down-to-the-wire winner. This time, it was the Canes who scored last, staving off the brooms and extending this series by at least one more game.

Before the page turns to that next do-or-die assignment, here’s a look at how Carolina fought off elimination on Saturday night.

CANES PUT TOGETHER THEIR BEST FIRST PERIOD OF THE SERIES

In a series that’s seen four games decided by a single goal, the importance of every moment is magnified. Goals have been hard to come by. Neither team has managed to run away with a win. Every mistake could be the one that gifts an opponent the rare chance to gain ground, every stretch of pressure could be the one that tilts the ice in the other direction.

For Carolina, then, a strong start to this night was a must. And while the Canes have managed a few solid starts in what’s been an incredibly close trio of games, they saved their best for Game 4, when it was needed most.

Aside from a miserable first 20 in Game 1, which saw the Canes trailing 3-1 at the first intermission, Rod Brind’Amour’s group had managed to head into the second period with a thin lead in two of three games heading into Game 4. It wasn’t enough. So, Saturday night, they found another level — by the end of the opening frame this time around, the Canes had poured three goals into Igor Shesterkin’s net, matching their max output from each of the three previous games in one period.

Evgeny Kuznetsov kicked off the productive period, beating Shesterkin just two minutes into the game to draw first blood. Stefan Noesen added another a few minutes later, and Sebastian Aho potted one more late in the frame, the latter a key tally as New York had scored one of their own by that point.

In the end, that opening flurry was key, as New York managed to regroup and hold Carolina off the board for the rest of the game while they tried to mount a comeback, until the home side added a game-winning fourth goal in the final few minutes of the tilt.

HURRICANES’ DEADLINE GAMBLES CONTINUE TO COME UP BIG

Much has been made of the Canes’ all-in approach this season. After years of playoff runs that began with promise and ended in disappointment, the club made waves at the trade deadline in an attempt to stockpile as much game-breaking skill as they could. Where the previous iterations of this group had fallen flat when the stakes were highest, the reinforcements, the thinking went, would add another layer of dynamic skill to get them over the line — namely blue-chip offensive talents Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

We’ve seen glimpses of that plan coming to fruition for the Canes throughout this post-season, and here, in the most important game of Carolina’s season, we saw it again.

Despite a slow start to his time in Canes colours, Kuznetsov has managed to stitch together more than a few memorable moments over the course of this post-season. When the team first began this run in Round 1, there was Kuznetsov scoring a minute-and-a-half into Game 1 of the opening series, setting the tone early. When his Canes had the New York Islanders on the ropes in Game 5, there was Kuznetsov, breaking out his signature move to score on a penalty shot, becoming just the second player in league history to score on a penalty shot in a series-clinching game.

Saturday night, there was Kuznetsov again, — setting the tone early, again — with a quick strike in the opening minutes to spur that crucial Canes flurry.

And then there’s Guentzel, the team’s star deadline prize. While he was largely held at bay in Round 1, the former Pittsburgh Penguin has been a key cog in the Canes’ machine in Round 2, leading Carolina in the goal-scoring department and sitting second in overall points. In Game 4, the 2017 Cup champ made an impact once again, showing his poise and playmaking ability early as he set up Aho for the third goal of Carolina’s first-period collection.

All told, Guentzel and Kuznetsov have a combined eight goals and 14 points in the post-season so far.

“We’re fighting for our lives. There’s no way else to put it,” Guentzel said of the Game 4 win to Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie post-game. “It’s been a fun group to be a part of, and we don’t want it to end. So, we did everything we could to make sure we’re trying to move on to the next day. I thought we did a great job — everyone played a part in this one. It feels nice, but we’ve got to move on to the next one.”

AS RANGERS’ VETS GO QUIET, LAFRENIERE KEEPS SHINING

One of the key storylines of the Rangers’ 2023-24 campaign has been the resurgence of young Alexis Lafreniere. After a trio of somewhat underwhelming campaigns for the 2020 No. 1 pick, the 22-year-old found a new level this season, potting 28 goals and collecting 57 points over the course of the regular season.

In the post-season, though, the young winger has truly shown his growth.

A point-a-game presence in the opening round, Lafreniere has been a key factor in each of New York’s efforts here in Round 2. In Game 1, it was the Saint-Eustache, Que., native who found Artemi Panarin for the game-winner midway through the third period. In Game 2, Lafreniere potted one himself, scoring the game’s opener. In Game 3, another strong performance, Lafreniere scoring to give New York a third-period lead, and then assisting on Panarin’s overtime winner.

In Game 4, as the Canes managed to hold the rest of New York’s big dogs off the board — Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider were all held at bay after dominating the series to this point — Lafreniere still managed to break through.

The young sniper scored his team-leading fourth goal of the series Saturday, his six points now tied for the team lead, too. For a Rangers group already well-stocked with dangerous offensive options, the emergence of a flourishing, potential-reaching Lafreniere is a tough pill to swallow for the rest of the Eastern Conference — and the rest of the 2024 playoff field.

CANES’ POWER PLAY COMES UP CLUTCH WHEN IT’S NEEDED MOST

Through three games of this series, Carolina found itself on the wrong side of the divide that seems to separate playoff performers from playoff pretenders. The special-teams battle had swung wildly against them, the Rangers having killed off every one of the Canes’ 15 power-play opportunities — and tallying a short-handed goal themselves — while potting four man-advantage markers of their own in Round 2.

Saturday night, the special-teams pressure ramped up to the max as the game, and Carolina’s season, came down to the wire.

The home side had built up a three-goal cushion courtesy of that sterling first period. Goals from Will Cuylle, Barclay Goodrow and Lafreniere had pulled New York level. But with the clock ticking down on the third period, the game barrelling towards yet another overtime session, Jordan Martinook offered up a lifeline, drawing a Ryan Lindgren tripping call and sending his Canes to the power play.

With the goose egg weighing heavy on their shoulders, the stakes as high as they could be, Carolina finally broke through, Teuvo Teravainen throwing the puck over to Brady Skjei for a one-time blast from the point.

As pointed out by Sportsnet’s Kevin Bieksa once the game had wrapped, a key personnel tweak made all the difference in the game’s final goal, which finished as the winner. After trying a few different right-handed options in the power-play quarterback role over the course of the series, Brind’Amour and Co. slotted the left-handed Skjei into that role for Game 4.

The decision came up clutch, as Skjei receiving that puck from the left side meant he could one-time it on net, rather than having to corral it first, that split-second difference enough to beat Shesterkin.

And beating the 2022 Vezina winner a fourth time in one playoff game is no easy feat. Shesterkin has allowed four or more goals only three times in 36 career playoff games. The last time he did? May 2022, against Guentzel’s Penguins. After seeing that streak continue through three games in this series, the Canes unable to get that last one to turn the tide, Carolina finally found that elusive fourth goal when it mattered most.

Now, they’ll have to prove they can do it again. Game 5 goes Monday night.