Rangers win at home to force game 7

*Photo from Sporting News*

Series tied 3-3

   As with any series featuring the Carolina Hurricanes this postseason, the home team gets all the spoils. Tyler Motte scored, Filip Chytil added two goals, and the New York Rangers defeated the Hurricanes with a 5-2 victory on Saturday night in Manhattan.

   With the win, the home team has won all 6 games of this series so far, with the Rangers tying the series up 3-3, forcing a do or die game 7 on the road. Chytil's two goal game made him the leading point scorer with the Rangers having been on the brink of elimination.

   Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said that "I knew we'd come out hard and play well. It was a competitive game. We jumped on them early, got a couple-goal lead, so that was key. The three games in Carolina were different type of games than the three games in New York. Why? I don't know. We open it up, get more scoring chances, but we also give up more. I ask them to play the same way every night."

   Motte was the one who got the Rangers on the board first, scoring unassisted 7:22 into the game, putting the Rangers ahead 1-0. On the power play 9:51 into the opening period, Mika Zibanejad scored his 7th goal of the playoffs, putting the Rangers ahead 2-0 after one period.

   In the second period, Chytil picked up right where Zibanejad left off, making it a 3-0 lead with his 3rd goal of the playoffs, assisted by Adam Fox 3:24 into the second. Former Ranger Brady Skjei got the Hurricanes on the board 5:05 into the period, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Chytil then scored again at the 6:47 mark of the second, making it a 4-1 game.

   At the 12:47 mark of the second, Vincent Trocheck cut into the deficit again for the Hurricanes, making it a 4-2 game on his 5th of the playoffs, assisted by Skjei and Martin Necas. The only goal of the 3rd period was a power play goal by Artemi Panarin, making it a 5-2 game with assists from Chris Kreider and Ryan Strome.

   Chytil said of his two goal game that "I tried to keep shooting every time there's a chance, and obviously many times in these playoffs even when we don't score a goal or it doesn't go to the net and they block it, we still get chances off these shots when we are first on the puck and we can keep possession."

   Getting the start and his 3rd win of the series for the Rangers was Igor Shesterkin, with another strong outing in net. Shesterkin stopped 37 of the 39 shots that he faced, posting a .949 save percentage to keep the Rangers season alive.

   For the Hurricanes, Antti Raanta got the start and the loss in this one. Raanta turned aside 10 out of the 13 shots he faced, before leaving in the second period in favor of Pyotr Kochetkov. Coming on in relief, Kochetkov saved 10 of the 12 shots he faced.

   After the game, Skjei said of the loss that "We're going to try and scrap this game. Move on past. We did obviously the same exact thing in the first round with the wins and losses at home, on the road. It's obviously right now a little frustrating that we couldn't close it out, but we'll forget about this pretty quickly and we have a lot of confidence at home like our record shows. We are excited and we'll be ready to go on Monday."

   Up next, the win or go home game 7 is back in Raleigh on Monday night. There, both the Hurricanes and Rangers will look to advance to the 3rd round, for a matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.