by The New York Rangers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the Eastern Conference Stanley Cup Playoffs.
New York advanced with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 on Sunday. Carolina eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 3-2 win in Game 7 of the first round at PNC Arena on Saturday.
The Hurricanes, who are the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division, will have home-court advantage against the Rangers, the Metropolitan’s No. 2 seed.
“It’s a relief, the first round for me is always the most emotional,” trainer Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s always the one that’s the most intense and then you think, this goes on, you wait, another month and a half. As it goes on, it absorbs everybody a little bit. So sometimes getting through the first round is actually the hardest because it’s very emotional and then the next round will be emotional, but I think it kind of dies down a little bit as you go along.
“So getting through this round is sometimes huge in that sense. And now he’s just refocusing. That’s going to be the next challenge.”
defenders tony deangelo (one goal, seven assists) and slavic jacob (two goals, six assists) led the Hurricanes with eight points in the first round, and center Vicente Trocheck (three goals, four assists) and striker Teuvo Teravainen (two goals, five assists) each had seven. Forward Max Domi had two goals and one assist in Game 7 to finish with five points (two goals, three assists), as did centers sebastian now (two goals, three assists) and Seth Jarvis (three goals, two assists).
Goalkeeper antti raanta won three of four games against the Bruins, and rookie Pyotr Kochetkov he went 1–1 with a 3.31 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. fredrick andersen he did not play in the series due to a lower body injury sustained on April 16.
Carolina went 3-1-0 against New York, with Aho leading the team with seven points (three goals, four assists). Trocheck (two goals, two assists), Jarvis (two goals, two assists), forward Andrey Svechnikov (one goal, three assists) and defense brady skjei (four assists) each had four points.
Andersen went 2-1-0 with a 2.01 GAA and a .914 save percentage against the Rangers, and Kochetkov had 31 saves in a 4-3 victory on April 26. Raanta, who played for the Rangers from 2015-2017, has played in one of his career games against New York, a 2-1 loss on Jan. 6, 2018, as a member of the Arizona Coyotes.
Forward chris kreider he led the Rangers with six points (four goals, two assists) and scored a goal in each of four regular season games. Hub Mika Zibanejad had five points (one goal, four assists), and the defender K’Andre Miller and forward Frank Vatran each had a goal and two assists.
Igor Shesterkin he went 0-2-0 with a 3.63 GAA and a .883 save percentage. Alexander Georgiev he was 1-1-0 with a 3.01 GAA, a .924 save percentage and a shutout.
“They play a fast, physical game,” Rangers defense jacob trouba Said of hurricanes. “They get into the forecheck. We have to take opportunities when we have them.”
Carolina, advancing to the second round for the third time in four seasons, defeated New York in three games in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers in 2020.
NHL.com Staff Writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report
