The New York Rangers won game three of their second-round matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes in dramatic fashion. Another overtime win at PNC Arena means that after three games, Peter Laviolette's men and the Rangers have pushed the Carolina Hurricanes to the brink of elimination. It was a tight game that Igor Shesterkin stole, but the Rangers won and forced game four, allowing them to progress to round two with back-to-back sweeps.
It started poorly when Carolina broke the stalemate early. In the first period, Jake Guentzel cruised through the slot to deflect a puck home past Igor Shesterkin and give the Hurricanes an early lead in game 3. Those deflections have been deadly for the Hurricanes in this series, and they were able to work another one to beat the Rangers' star netminder. New York needs to adjust to these deflection ideas, specifically from Guentzel, as it was 1-0 Canes.
New York would get it back in the third, though, when the second line would work its cold-blooded magic. When the Rangers need someone to step up, it's so often Artemi Panarin, but this was the other winger on that line. Alexis Lafreniere would beat Pyotr Kochetkov early in the third period to give us a tie game once more. A dull period from then on means overtime.
The tip that would win game three for the Rangers would come from the star Russian in the extra frame. Artemi Panarin broke the deadlock and pushed the Carolina Hurricanes to the brink of elimination. It was a truly smash-and-grab performance from the Rangers, as the Hurricanes controlled most of the game in Raleigh, but they don't care about any of that now that they are one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals and a chance to play in the Stanley Cup finals.