Hurricanes sweep Rangers in Game 3 of Cup Qualifiers, reach playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs by completing a sweep of the New York Rangers with a 4-1 win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tuesday.

"It's a special group we have," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We need everyone, and they understand that, and everyone's contributing right now. And that's why we're still playing."

Rangers rookie goalie Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves in his NHL postseason debut, ending Henrik Lundqvist's streak of 129 consecutive postseason starts.

WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Rangers highlights]

New York led for 3:06 in the series, all in this game, and its power play was 1-for-14 with 15 shots on goal.

"We came back through training camp trying to climb back to that feeling we had before the break," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. "We worked hard, tried to prepare ourselves as best we could, and honestly it just [stinks] that it's done. Just an empty feeling right now. I don't have that many words to put together."

Hurricanes goalie James Reimer made 38 saves in his first start of this postseason after Petr Mrazek won the first two games, allowing three goals on 50 shots (.940 save percentage).

Reimer started because the Hurricanes won the first two games and they were playing three games in four days.

"I've just been preparing for four months," he said. "It's been a long grind. Obviously, this virus isn't what anybody wanted. Just worked hard, tried to take care of myself and prepare. It was a fun game. We probably didn't play the way we wanted to at the start, but obviously they came hard as we expected, with their backs against the wall. As a goalie, just trying to hold the fort as long as you can, and the boys battled. We really came alive in the third."

Sebastian Aho scored twice, and Warren Foegele also scored in the third period. Teuvo Teravainen scored in the second period for the Hurricanes, the No. 6 seed in the East, after Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, the No. 11 seed.

Aho scored eight points (three goals, five assists) in the series.

"Great players rise to the occasion and your best players have to be your best players," Brind'Amour said. "He came through for us tonight too."

Carolina will play the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals or Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round. The Bruins, Flyers, Capitals and Lightning are playing in the round-robin portion of the Qualifiers to determine the top four seeds; the Hurricanes will play the No. 3 or No. 4 seed.

New York has a 12.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.

"This hurts," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "We're all disappointed with how we played. We come up here and basically we played two good periods out of nine. It's certainly isn't anything we envisioned happening and certainly isn't anything that we're proud of."

The two good periods happened in Game 3.

Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the second period after New York outshot Carolina 14-6 in the first.

"First time in the three games that we started playing hockey," Kreider said. "We actually looked like the Rangers in the first period."

The Hurricanes responded with a goal from Teravainen to make it 1-1 at 3:18, capping a shift that lasted 1:14 in the offensive zone. Rangers defenseman Marc Staal didn't have a stick for the final 1:05 of the shift, never having received one from a forward, which Quinn said should have happened.

"It just was a laundry list of mistakes," Quinn said. "We don't get it out. We're running around in our own end. We don't box out. [Staal] loses his stick, we don't give him a stick. Just mistake after mistake, and it's 1-1. We weren't able to ride any momentum after getting our lead."

Reimer preserved the tie going into the third period with a flurry of saves late in the second, the last one with the paddle of his stick, reaching out to stop Filip Chytil's shot from the left side with 1:59 left.

"Our goalie kept us in this game," Brind'Amour said. "'Reims' was phenomenal. Eventually we got into the fight, eventually we got into our game. But if it wasn't for Reims, obviously, the game would have been over."

Foegele made it 2-1 at 5:07 of the third period, scoring on a double deflection off a shot by Brady Skjei, who was traded to Carolina by New York on Feb. 24.

"I thought in the first and second we weren't really going to the net," Foegele said. "Rod was preaching we've got to be more simple, just go to the net, and great shot by Brady."

Aho made it 3-1 at 10:26, scoring unassisted after taking the puck from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba, going around Tony DeAngelo and beating Shesterkin.

Aho scored a shorthanded goal into an empty net at 19:29 for the 4-1 final.

"The better team won the series," Quinn said.

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report