Rangers rely on star players, show resiliency in 2nd straight OT victory

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Artemi Panarin spoke up in the dressing room before overtime.

Vincent Trocheck said Panarin talked about how the New York Rangers needed to stay resilient, that they couldn't hang their heads just because the Carolina Hurricanes scored at 6-on-5 to tie the game with 1:36 left in regulation, that the game was still there for the taking.

"Obviously, you don't want to give up a goal late like that, but sticking with it, coming in here knowing that next goal wins the game," Trocheck said, summarizing Panarin's words to the team. "'Bread' spoke up in the locker room and then he spoke up on the ice, too."

Trocheck helped. So did Alexis Lafrenière. The Rangers did it again. They're still perfect in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Panarin scored with a between-the-legs deflection of Trocheck's backhanded pass from the right face-off circle at 1:43 of overtime to give the Rangers a 3-2 win at PNC Arena and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round.

They can complete their second straight series sweep of these playoffs on Saturday.

"Just so happy," Panarin said. "It was a lot of emotion. I can't really explain to you. I guess I don't really understand what happened. I need 10 more minutes. Obviously, it's nice to see the puck go in the net."

The Rangers keep winning in the playoffs with the same blueprint, the same four core areas.

1. Dominant special teams

They were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill to improve to 15-for-15 in the series. It didn't matter that they were 0-for-4 on the power play because they still won the special teams battle with Chris Kreider's short-handed goal to tie it 1-1 at 8:30 of the second period.

2. Elite goaltending from Igor Shesterkin

Shesterkin made 45 saves in Game 3 after making 54 in Game 2. He has a 2.01 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in seven playoff games, including 2.30 and .938 against Carolina.

He made 16 saves on 17 shots in the first period, 20 on 20 in the second. He stopped eight of nine in the third, then saved the one shot he faced in overtime before Panarin scored.

"They come out hot in their building and they sent a few flurries at us and 'Shesty' just keeps kicking," Trocheck said. "I think we expect it at this point. Obviously, we don't want to rely on him too much but when you have him back there, he makes a really big difference in the game."

3. Clutch goals from their best players

Trocheck scored the double-overtime goal to end Game 2 after Kreider tied it in the third period. Mika Zibanejad scored twice, and Panarin added a goal in a 4-3 win in Game 1.

On Thursday, it was Kreider scoring the game-tying short-handed goal at 8:30 of the second period off a 2-on-1 rush with Zibanejad, who created it with a bank pass to himself off the boards around defenseman Brent Burns.

Then it was the Rangers' best line all season doing its damage to the Hurricanes.

Lafreniere made it 2-1 at 6:25 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer off the rush off a pass from Panarin, who got the puck from Trocheck.

In overtime, it was Lafreniere rimming the puck around the boards from the left side to the right for Trocheck, who then found Panarin in the slot for one of the prettiest redirections you'll see.

"'Laf' noticed that we were making a change, and smart move by him rimming the puck to the guys coming on the ice," Trocheck said. "I think (Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry) Orlov, the puck bounced off his stick and I just saw a little bit of daylight, saw 'Bread' crashing the net and it was a great tip by him."

New York’s top-six forwards, featuring Panarin, Lafreniere, Trocheck, Zibanejad, Kreider and Jack Roslovic, have accounted for 21 of the Rangers' 26 goals in the playoffs. Panarin has four game-winners. Trocheck has one.

4. Resiliency

Maybe another team would have been deflated when Andrei Svechnikov scored with Kochetkov pulled for the extra skater at 18:24 of the third period to tie the game 2-2.

But just another team doesn't win seven straight games to start the playoffs, two in a row in overtime, three in a row by one goal. It's the first time the Rangers have done that since 1994, which is the last time they won the Stanley Cup.

There's a long way to go to find out if there is any symmetry in that, but what is obvious to this point in the playoffs is these Rangers don't get fazed when something goes against them.

"I'll be honest, I was really confident just in the way we were playing the game," New York coach Peter Laviolette said.

He was because of how the Rangers withstood Carolina's furious push in the first period, an expected push with the Hurricanes down 2-0 in the series and feeding off their raucous home crowd, which was in full throat and waving towels.

Laviolette said he thought the Rangers got better defensively, better through the neutral zone and more dangerous offensively after the first period.

"That was the messaging going back out there [for overtime]," Laviolette said. "This is a resilient group and they've been in these situations before. Sending messages that we were doing the right things, we're going to finish this just by what we've been through and the way we're playing the game."

Panarin stood up and said as much.

Then, after the Rangers had won the special teams battle, watched their goalie do everything he possibly could, their best player scored a clutch goal to prove their resiliency once again, putting them on the brink of another sweep.

"This one feels really good," Zibanejad said.