Hurricanes defeat Rangers in OT in Game 1 of Eastern Second Round

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Ian Cole scored 3:12 into overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at PNC Arena on Wednesday.

Cole scored from above the right face-off circle with a wrist shot that deflected off the stick of Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
"[Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith] shot it and it bounced right to me," Cole said. "I was looking to pass it to someone, and no one was really anywhere dangerous. I was like, I guess I'll throw it on net and see what happens. Hockey is a game of weird bounces, and it just happened to go in. Not the prettiest, but we'll take it."

Sebastian Aho tied it 1-1 with 2:23 remaining in the third period. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped Aho cutting to the net on the backhand, but the forward tapped in his own rebound at the right post.
"We raised the level of our game, the intensity, and played with a little more desperation," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were lacking a little of that for two periods. It doesn't always work out, but we had a real good third period obviously."
Antti Raanta made 27 saves for the Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division.
Filip Chytil scored, and Shesterkin made 24 saves for the Rangers, the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here Friday.
"Definitely a tough loss," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "We've been there, done that. We've got to battle back. I was really happy with our game. [Carolina] put a big push on in the third period the first 10 minutes, and we weathered that storm. But the first two periods was perfect hockey for us. I thought it was our best game of the year, I really did."

The Hurricanes outshot the Rangers 7-0 in the first half of the third and 10-4 for the period. Carolina forward Nino Niederreiter hit the crossbar on a breakaway at 12:37, and Aho did the same with 2:47 left.
"I didn't think we got it deep enough," Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad said. "We got it out of our zone, but they regrouped pretty fast. They're a quick team. That's a really good team we're playing. Let's not forget about that. They got their push and got their crowd into it and got some momentum, and obviously the goal."

Chytil gave New York a 1-0 lead at 7:07 of the first period. Carolina defenseman Tony DeAngelo turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and
Alexis Lafreniere
fed Chytil for a one-timer from the right hash marks.
Raanta kept it a one-goal game for the rest of the period, stopping Ryan Strome cutting to the net at 11:56 before making the save on Chytil's one-timer with his left skate at the right post at 14:40.
Raanta, in his ninth NHL season, made his first Stanley Cup Playoff start in Game 1 of the first round, a 5-1 win against the Boston Bruins. He took over as Carolina's No. 1 goalie after Frederik Andersen was injured against the Colorado Avalanche on April 16 and is 4-2 with a 2.13 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in seven playoff starts.
"When you haven't got the chance to play these [games], you always question yourself like, what if I get the chance to play?" Raanta said. "It's obviously been a lot of fun to play. Now the stakes are getting higher and higher all the time, but you're just trusting your own thing."
NOTES: Rangers defenseman Adam Fox was held without a point after scoring in each of the seven games (10 points; three goals, seven assists) against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. … New York defenseman Jacob Trouba was minus-2 with three shots on goal, six hits and four blocked shots in a game-high 28:13. … Cole scored his second NHL playoff goal. His first came in the Penguins' 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final. ... Aho scored his 17th NHL playoff goal to tie Kevin Dineen for the third most in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. They trail Eric Staal (19) and Brind'Amour (18). … Carolina forward Seth Jarvis got an assist on Aho's goal, giving him six points (three goals, three assists) in eight games in the playoffs, the most among rookies.