Canes stay perfect at home to take series lead

*Photo from TheScore*

Carolina leads series 3-2

   Home ice in game 5 was just what the doctor ordered for the Carolina Hurricanes. Teuvo Teravainen scored, Andrei Svechnikov added a goal of his own, and the Hurricanes defeated the New York Rangers with a 3-1 victory on Thursday night in Raleigh.

   With the win, the Hurricanes retook the series lead after two road losses, holding a 3-2 series lead, one win from advancing to the 3rd round. They remain a perfect 7-0 on home ice this postseason, yet are somehow 0-5 on the road to this point.

   Teravainen said of bouncing back that "We had just kind of talked after the last game. Just reset and start over and just we don't have to think too much of what's behind, keep thinking what's going forward."

   Starting the scoring for the Hurricanes was Vincent Trocheck, who gave them a 1-0 lead with his 4th goal of the playoffs, scoring shorthanded 12:57 into the game, assisted by Jordan Staal. On the power play 17:06 into the period, Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play to tie the game 1-1, on his 6th goal of the playoffs.

   The only goal of the second period came from Teravainen, who scored the eventual game winner on the power play 9:47 into the second, making it 2-1 Hurricanes with assists from Tony DeAngelo and Seth Jarvis. Svechnikov then scored in the 3rd period, putting the Hurricanes ahead 3-1 on a breakaway goal.

   After the game, Trocheck said that "We play a hard-nosed game, we play smart and above them. That's how we played all the regular season. We kind of got away from that the first couple games of this series, but when we play that way and we play our game, I like our chances against anybody."

   Getting the start once again, and getting the win once again, was Antti Raanta for the Hurricanes. Raanta stopped 16 of the only 17 shots on goal that he faced, posting a .941 save percentage in a light workload night.

   For the Rangers, Igor Shesterkin picked up his 3rd loss of the series in this one. Shesterkin turned aside 31 out of the 34 shots on goal that the Rangers sent towards him, recording a .912 save percentage in the defeat.

   Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said that "I didn't think we played our game at all. I thought we were reaching with sticks all night instead of finishing checks with the body like we did the other nights. Obviously, to me it was the worst game in the five games in this series. They pretty well dominated that game tonight."

   Up next, game 6 of the series will take place on Saturday night in Manhattan, shifting back to New York City. There, the Hurricanes will look to finally win a road game and advance to the 3rd round, while the Rangers will look to win and force a game 7.