Rangers’ season ends with loss to Hurricanes

Brighter days almost certainly are ahead for the New York Rangers. Just don’t tell that to head coach David Quinn, quite yet.

The New York Rangers’ bench boss was in no mood after his young team’s season ended with a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The loss was New York’s third in as many games in the best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifier, one that sent the Blueshirts home until next season and Carolina to the first round of the playoffs.

The Rangers (37-28-5 in the regular season) had 11 players make their playoff debuts in this series, including goalie Igor Shesterkin. The 24-year-old, who went 10-2 in the weeks before the NHL paused play in March, made his first playoff start on Tuesday after being deemed “unfit to play” for games one and two of the series.

“I don’t view this as a good experience in any way, shape, or form,” Quinn said during MSG Network’s postgame. “Maybe when the dust settles and the emotions subside, you look back at this season and last two, three weeks that we’ve been together and think ‘Okay, we’ll continue to move forward as an organization.’ But that’s certainly not how I feel today.”

Shesterkin held his own, stopping 27 of 30 shots and making several fabulous saves. However, not even a switch from veteran and future Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist could thwart the Hurricanes. Ironically, Carolina gave 32-year-old James Reimer his first playoff start in seven years after dominating the first two games with Petr Mrazek between the pipes.

Reimer basically stood on his head, as the Rangers played their best hockey of the series, particularly in the first two periods. Quinn said Shesterkin played well but quickly added: “Igor played well. Certainly, our goaltending wasn’t our problem in this series. I mean our offense … we scored four goals. Four goals in three games — you’re not gonna win a series doing that. Our goaltending was the least of our problems.”

The game

The Rangers played their best hockey of the series in the first period. They were quick, physical, and created several quality scoring chances. They had the edge in shots on goal (14-6) and hits (17-9), including a thunderous shot by Brendan Smith on Andrei Svechnikov. Smith caught the Canes’ standout with his head down at center ice, throwing a shoulder-to-chest hit that sent the 20-year-old backward and to the ice.

The only thing the Rangers didn’t do was score.

The Canes had 32-year-old goalie James Reimer to thank for that. In his first playoff start since 2013, he twice stopped Artemi Panarin from close range, deflecting each unscreened bid with his glove hand. He also stoned Ryan Strome, who split the defense and got off a weak back-hander as he was hooked by defenseman Sami Vatanen. On the ensuing power play, Reimer made a nifty shoulder stop on Chris Kreider’s deflection of Tony DeAngelo’s wrister from the point.

By period’s end, Carolina’s top line of Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Teuvo Teravainen were without a shot on goal.

The Rangers had the good start they lacked in games one and two.

“We were skating, using our speed to our advantage and not slowing things down,” Ryan Strome said during a first intermission interview on MSG Network. “We dictated more of the play that way.”

The Blueshirts carried the momentum into the second period and took their first lead of the series just 12 seconds in on a goal by Kreider. According to MSG Network, the goal was the fastest to open a period in the postseason in team history. From the opening faceoff in Game One to Kreider’s goal, the Rangers had either trailed (105:21) or been tied (34:51).

One of several Rangers’ top forwards who didn’t play particularly well in the first two matches, Kreider showed why the Blueshirts gave him a seven-year, $45.5 million contract extension last winter. The winger took a pass in the neutral zone, exploded past two defenders, and shielded the puck from Vatanen as he moved from backhand to forehand and beat Reimer.

“First time in three games that we started playing hockey,” Kreider said after the game on MSG Network. “We actually looked like the Rangers for a little bit there in the first period.”

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the good vibes didn’t last long. Carolina’s fourth line of Brock McGinn, Morgan Geekie, and Jordan Martinook saw to that, pinning the Blueshirts in their zone for what seemed an eternity shortly after Kreider’s goal.

Marc Staal broke his stick during the extended own-zone time and played without one for 1:05. No Ranger forward on the ice (Greg McKegg, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Julien Gauthier) gave his stick to Staal, allowing Carolina to keep the puck in, get its skilled players on the ice, and tie the game. The equalizer came from Teravainen, who gathered a loose puck in the slot, skated in untouched, and beat Igor Shesterkin with a back-hander at 3:18.

“Laundry list of mistakes during that stretch,” Quinn said. “We don’t get it out, we were running around in our own end, we don’t box out. (Staal) loses his stick, we don’t give him a stick. I mean, just mistake after mistake and it’s 1-1. We weren’t able to ride any momentum off getting our lead.”

Carolina started to find its game from there, but the Rangers kept skating and hitting, and nearly regained the lead with several high-quality chances, particularly in one late sequence in which Brendan Lemieux was stopped on a breakaway, had his rebound hit Vatanen’s shoulder, and then saw Reimer absolutely rob Filip Chytil, sliding to his right and getting a stick on a puck headed for a wide-open net.

“I’m sure they felt pretty good after two periods,” Quinn said.

In the third period, Carolina dominated from the start, looking very much like the team that stifled the Rangers in the first two games.

Shesterkin kept the game tied at 1 with three impressive stops in the opening minutes. The Rangers’ wunderkind gloved Martin Necas’ top-shelf bid about 90 seconds in. Nearly a minute later, he got a pad on Vincent Trocheck’s try from the right circle, then went from his left to right to stone Brock McGinn’s attempt.

But it wasn’t enough.

Carolina took the lead for good at 5:07 of the final period on a double-deflection that no goalie could be expected to stop. Former Ranger defenseman Brady Skjei’s shot from the point was tipped by Trocheck and then Warren Foegele, beating Shesterkin over the shoulder on the short side.

Just more than five minutes later, Aho won the puck from Jacob Trouba (who otherwise played a solid, physical game) along the wall, beat DeAngelo with a dirty deke, and buried a back-hander under the crossbar to make it 3-1. Aho added an empty-netter with 30.7 seconds left in what turned out to be the Rangers’ season.