The Carolina Hurricanes seem to have grasped the concept of home ice advantage, having extended their perfect showing at the PNC Arena since the start of spring ball Friday in Raleigh, beating the New York Rangers 2-0.
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Rod Brind’Amour’s men have won each of their home games since the start of the playoffs, having also won all four against the Boston Bruins in the first round. They’ll head to the Big Apple for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively, with a 2-0 series lead.
Still without the services of their usual starting goalkeeper, Frederik Andersen, who suffered a lower-body injury since mid-April, the crowd favorites once again put their faith in Antti Raanta, who rewarded them with a shutout. The masked man thus succeeded in his first shutout of the present series. He has only been tested 21 times, including closing the door on each of the four opposing power plays.
Unexpected offensive heroes
For the second time in as many games, a defender with a defensive character scored the winning goal for the “Canes”. Two days after the success of Ian Cole, in overtime, Brendan Smith this time played the heroes.
Shorthanded, the fullback went on the attack with Sebastian Aho. In a two-on-one situation, the attacker passed the puck to his teammate, who immediately threw to deceive the vigilance of goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin.
The latter will not have much to reproach himself for, he who blocked 20 of the 21 opposing attempts, in addition to standing up during each of the three power plays.
Aho finished his game with two points, he who also lodged the puck in an empty net, in the last seconds of the game. He already has three points in two games in this series.