RALEIGH, N.C. —
Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere also scored goals for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin made 45 saves.
Jake Guentzel had a first-period goal for Carolina, while Andrei Svechnikov tied it with 1:36 left to force the overtime and send a jolt through the home crowd.
The series looked as if it had the potential for heavy drama considering the Metropolitan Division-winning Rangers also won the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team, while the Hurricanes — in the playoffs for the sixth time in six seasons — finished three points behind and entered the NHL playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup.
Yet the Rangers have turned this into a display of confident and clutch play after winning by 4-3 scores in both games in New York.
Beyond Panarin’s finish, there was Kreider’s charge up the ice past Brent Burns to finish a feed from Mika Zibanejad for a short-handed goal that tied it at 1 and drained Carolina’s sustained momentum from Guentzel’s first score. And that ultimately captured a piece of another frustrating night for Carolina on the power play — along with a clear edge for New York.
After going 0-for-5 with the man advantage in each of the first two games, Carolina — which was the league’s No. 2 team on the power play with the man advantage — went 0-for-5 yet again to stand at 0-for-15 in the series.
Carolina gave the nod to Kochetkov in net after Frederik Andersen had played all seven playoff games so far, allowing eight goals on 62 shots in the first two games against the Rangers. Kochetkov finished with 22 saves.
The Rangers had their own lineup change, with forward Filip Chytil — who had been ruled out for the season in January — getting his first action since November after being sidelined with an upper-body injury.
