Chris Kreider scored a third-period hat trick to help the New York Rangers erase a two-goal deficit and defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 6 of their semifinal series. the NHL Eastern Conference on Thursday evening.
The Hurricanes led 3-1 to start the final period, but Kreider scored three goals in a row. He scored the decisive goal at 15:41.
This victory finally allowed the Rangers to eliminate the Hurricanes, who had won the last two games after seeing the opponent take a 3-0 lead in the series.
The Hurricanes seemed destined to force a seventh game, but they were unable to contain Kreider and the Rangers’ surge in the final 14 minutes of regulation.
Vincent Trocheck also scored in the victory and Barclay Goodrow completed the scoring into an empty net in the final minute of regulation time.
Kreider first found the back of the net by recovering the puck after a save by Frederik Andersen, on a shot by Mika Zibanejad. The forward then tied the score by deflecting a shot from Artemi Panarin at 11:54.
Igor Shesterkin held his own after the first two periods which saw the Hurricanes apply a lot of pressure. The goalkeeper finished the match with 33 saves. He particularly stood out in front of Jordan Staal near his semi-circle and blocked a shot from Andrei Svechnikov after a faceoff in the third period.
Martin Necas, Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes and Andersen blocked 19 shots.
In the Eastern final, the Rangers will play against the winner of the duel between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers. The Panthers lead the series 3-2.
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