Rangers outlast Hurricanes with timely offence, tremendous goaltending

The Carolina Hurricanes' run of success at home was abruptly ended Monday night, their first post-season PNC Arena loss in 2022 ending their season in Round 2.

After such dominance in front of the home crowd against Boston and New York, Carolina's 6-2 loss in Game 7 will be a tough pill to swallow. The power play was absent again, more bad luck hit their crease with another injury mid-way through the game, and another big hit by Jacob Trouba became a key moment that will earn him no fans in Carolina.

And now, again, this is a group that will head into the off-season wondering what the heck they have to do differently to really break through as a top team in their conference.

"This is always tough, tougher maybe because I felt like we were in a different spot this year. We were right there," Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "That makes it a little tougher. And it's another chance, I don't want to say lost, but it's another year you don't get that chance. Very proud of the group though. Phenomenal year."

The New York Rangers, on the other hand, have overcome some concerning season-long underlying numbers and, with tremendous play in net and timely offence from their top players, will return to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2015. And they'll get a chance at revenge, too, because they'll play the same opponent they drew the last time they were here -- though the Tampa Bay Lightning arrive as back-to-back champs in 2022.

The Rangers are in for their toughest test yet and, finally, won't have such an advantage in the crease. While most of New York's playoff games this season have come against the other team's second- and third-stringers, now they'll meet Andrei Vasilevskiy.

But before we turn the page and focus on the East Final, let's look back at some of what we saw in Game 7 between New York and Carolina.

Carolina's power play finally caught up to them

The Hurricanes finished the regular season with the league's 13th-ranked power play, clicking at 22 per cent, but it had been a sagging situation for some time. From March 1 through the end of the regular season -- a 30-game period -- Carolina's power play ranked 26th at 15.6 per cent. In their last 10 games, they converted on just three of 24 PP attempts.

So the fact that Carolina continued to have issues on the man advantage in the playoffs isn't shocking with that context in mind, but it's still hard to believe a team with their offensive talent couldn't find a way to adjust. In Games 6 and 7 with a chance to close out the Rangers, Carolina scored once on the power play in seven opportunities and it was the obvious difference in Game 7. The Canes had their shots here and where the Rangers went 2-for-3, the Canes went 1-for-4, the lone tally cutting a four-goal deficit to three with just half a period left.

Too little, far too late.

Their only other power play goal in the series was in Game 5, and it was the game-winner off Teuvo Teravainen's stick.

As they did all series, the Canes had a distinct advantage in opportunities at 5-on-5, where they had 29 more shot attempts and seven more high dangers opportunities than New York, but Shesterkin was a stud and nullified that advantage. It's what he did all season for a Rangers team that was more often than not handled at evens.

Carolina needed to find better control on the man advantage, open up Shesterkin with royal road passes, and just get to the higher quality areas more often for their shots. They managed just five shots in four 5-on-4 opportunities and got just two high danger looks. With your season on the line and afforded ample power play chances, the Canes were too comfortable with outside shots.

Not a recipe for success against the best goalie in the NHL this season.

Shesterkin vs. Vasilevskiy

If that last sentence was at all controversial, well, next round will showcase the top two goalies going right now. Andrei Vasilevskiy is the established "best goalie in the world" who has been absolutely unbeatable in must-win playoff games the past three seasons, though he wasn't a Vezina finalist in 2021-22. Shesterkin is the Next One, this year's Vezina favourite, who himself has won five straight playoff elimination games, with a .930 save percentage.

In Game 7 against the Hurricanes Shesterkin was his difference-making self and while the final score was a blow out in New York's favour, there were certainly times when Carolina could have gotten on the board first, or crawled back into the game when it was early enough to not be out of reach yet.

His first period was especially important, when Shesterkin faced 16 shots and turned aside all of them. It was the best 20 minutes of Carolina's evening and their inability to get one goal there really left them in a tough hole.

"He's done it all year. Nothing surprises me," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of his netminder. "We're not perfect, but we find ways to win."

Shesterkin was masterful, and now will face the master at his position in the conference final. The advantage New York has held in goal in their first two rounds will not exist anymore. Welcome to the Conference Finals. Welcome to the Jungle.

Jacob Trouba hit at the centre of attention again

While Adam Fox will get star treatment heading into the next round, and rightly so, Jacob Trouba figures to be a major factor for the Rangers on the blue line.

Averaging over 25 minutes a game, Trouba logged 24 minutes of ice in Game 7, had a game-leading five blocked shots and two recorded hits. It's that physical nature that will come in handy next round against a fresher Lightning team. No one on the Rangers comes close to the number of hits Trouba has thrown around in these playoffs.

But with his style comes controversy from time to time, and the chance of suspension is always just around the corner. Trouba has had a few of those moments in these playoffs.

Just six days before Game 7 against Carolina, Trouba levelled Max Domi in Game 4 action on a hit that some thought should have lead to supplemental discipline, though did not get called as a penalty. Trouba ultimately avoided any punishment here.

In Round 1, Trouba's hit on Sidney Crosby removed the Penguins' superstar from Game 5 and he had to sit out Game 6 as well. Though there was no penalty called on this play either, the Penguins thought there was intent here, and also called out an elbow Trouba had thrown earlier in the game on Jake Guentzel.

So it was in Game 7 against Carolina that a Trouba hit again became a key turning point, and a controversial moment to some.

With the Rangers holding just a one-goal lead midway into the first period, Trouba went straight through Seth Jarvis as the rookie forward -- and key shooter on Carolina's power play -- tried to make a play in the offensive zone. Jarvis was left in distress and crawling back to the bench as the Rangers took play the other way. And as Jarvis struggled to get off the ice, his replacement jumped the bench early in defensive desperation and forced a too many men penalty against Carolina.

The Rangers scored on the ensuing power play to open a two-goal lead they never turned back from.

"That summed it all up in that shift. (Necas) jumping over, he doesn't realize Jarvy's toast," Brind'Amour said. "That was a tough blow in this game."

While there was some online debate over the legality of the play, and understandable frustration that Jarvis was in such rough shape and couldn't return to the game as the play in question went unpenalized, a reminder of how Rule 48 reads makes it clear that, by the book, Trouba did nothing illegal here. The pertinent part of that rule reads...

Illegal Check to the Head: A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:

(i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not "picked" as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.

There will be no supplemental discipline here, and you can bet Trouba will be someone to watch next round against the Lightning.

Appreciating Antti Raanta's playoff run

It was absolutely brutal goalie injury luck that bit the Carolina Hurricanes in the end this season. For a team that has been building up its skill base for a few years and was always held back somewhat by what they had -- or didn't have -- in net, this season was supposed to be different.

It's why they brought in Frederik Andersen for a seeming bargain at $4.5 million, a slight paycut from his Toronto days. Andersen delivered all regular season, and he was firmly within the top five players at his position.

But an injury at the tail end of the regular season persisted through two rounds of the playoffs and Andersen was never healthy enough to return for the Canes. He was still watching from the press box in Game 7, which meant the second- and third-stringers were tasked to face down Shesterkin's magic. And Carolina needed them both.

When looking back at this series, the difference in goaltending will be a focus, and a lot of that will be because Shesterkin really earned the accolades he's getting for such a stellar showing. But Raanta does not deserve any disdain for his performance -- on the contrary, he gave the Canes everything you could have hoped for from a backup put into such a prolonged tough spot.

Raanta stopped 16 of the 18 shots he faced Monday night, but a mid-game injury forced him from the crease with the Hurricanes trailing 2-0. Third-stringer Pyotr Kochetkov came in to replace him, immediately faced a couple of 2-on-1s and allowed a goal that opened the deficit to three goals. This is where the game slid away from Carolina.

The 33-year-old Raanta had five career playoff games of experience prior to this run, all of which were relief appearances and none returned great performances. And yet put into this crease, for a team with the heavy weight of expectation as a division winner, Raanta cannot be blamed for the elimination. He finishes the playoffs with a .922 save percentage, 2.26 GAA and held his own in Game 7.

It was unfortunate how his playoff run ended in injury, but it was a heck of an effort for Raanta over a couple of rounds.

Carolina's elimination had far more to do with struggling special teams and a lack of offensive finish than its goaltending.