Hurricanes rally past Rangers in Game 5 to avoid elimination 

NEW YORK -- The Carolina Hurricanes scored four goals in the third period and avoided elimination again with a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Carolina, which has won two straight, trails the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS, CBC).

Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Staal, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jordan Martinook scored for the Hurricanes, the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division. Frederik Andersen made 20 saves.

"We trusted our game. It ended up being enough and we live to fight another day," Staal said. "… We knew we had to have our best period and we did, and going to have another huge challenge going back home in a couple days. We're fighting for our lives. The boys showed up and it showed."

Jacob Trouba scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves for the Rangers, the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan, who lost at home for the first time in the postseason (4-1).

"Obviously you want to close out a series, but we put ourselves in a position that we get a couple cracks at it," Trouba said. "We've played good games in Carolina. We know we can play in that building. We'll go down there and bring a better game."

The Hurricanes trailed 1-0 entering the third before scoring three times in a span of 6:23.

Staal tied the game 1-1 at 3:33, skating around Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider in the left face-off circle and tucking a backhand around Shesterkin's outstretched left pad. The goal came off a cross-ice pass from Dmitry Orlov, who opted to hold the puck at the blue line and find Staal rather than dumping it in the zone.

"Just an incredible play by [Staal]," Martinook said. "I felt the whole game he was leading us. When you've got a guy that does it the same way every night and just plays the same style and in your face, hard, everyone wants to jump on. That's what your captain does. He was incredible tonight, everyone jumped on his back. He led us for sure."

Kuznetsov gave Carolina a 2-1 lead at 6:39 when he put in a rebound below the right circle after Shesterkin knocked down Brady Skjei's shot.

"I'm just so grateful to be part of that," Kuznetsov said. "It's kind of one of those when you're, you know, going into the third period, you realize that could be the last period this year and you don't want to have that feeling, so I'm so grateful that we were able to come back and win the game."

Martinook increased the lead to 3-1 at 9:56 with a snap shot in the slot after Necas' pass from behind the net deflected to him off Jack Drury’s stick.

"We just weren't very good in our approach today," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "There was a lot of issues tonight. We'll go back and look at it and try to correct those issues. … This group has always responded when we haven't played to our potential."

Necas scored an empty-net goal with 3:31 remaining for the 4-1 final.

"Yeah, I mean, that was huge," Necas said of the third period. "Starting with our captain. Jordan made a great play on the goal, same with 'Orly'. ... We believe. We believe in this locker room and, you know, game by game. You don't think about winning two in a row, three and row, four in a row, but it's about the next one and we're happy to go back to PNC."

Trouba gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 6:23 of the second period. He blocked a shot by Sebastian Aho, creating a 2-on-1 with Barclay Goodrow, before scoring with a wrist shot from the right circle.

The Rangers had 21 shots in the game, their fewest in the playoffs this season, and just 12 shots after the first period.

"They played well in the third and we just didn't give it enough," Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck said. "They wanted it more."

The Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers have never forced a Game 7 and are 0-6 in playoff series when trailing 3-0.

"Obviously there was a high level of desperation with our game in the third," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "… But I felt like it was business as usual. We had to win a period. Didn't matter how, we were going to get it done. It wasn't like we were dead. And you're one shot away, so that's how they approached it."

NOTES: Trouba's goal was his second playoff goal with the Rangers (39 games), and his first since May 11, 2022. … Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad had his playoff point and assist streaks end at eight games (three goals, 10 assists). … The Rangers lost for the first time in six games at home in the playoffs against the Hurricanes. … The Hurricanes were 0-for-3 on the power-play and are 1-for-20 in the series after finishing with the second-best power play during the regular season (26.9 percent).