Sometimes guys come out of nowhere in the NHL playoffs, and Wednesday night in Carolina, that’s exactly what happened.
Updated yesterday at 10:58 p.m.
Ian Cole, a 33-year-old defenseman on his sixth NHL team, scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead the Hurricanes to an improbable 2-1 victory in the series opener against the New York Rangers.
Unlikely, yes, because the Manhattan players had a one-goal lead with just three minutes left in that game. But Sebastian Aho, a former member of the Canadian, took advantage of the moment to make it 1-1, with only 2 min 23 s left in the game. It was the first magic trick.
The second, it was Cole who offered it, attempting a long shot during extra time, the kind of shot that can be placed in the category that the goalkeeper would like to see again, and no doubt that this poor Igor Shesterkin would indeed like to see him again. That was enough for the win…and to put the Canes into a 1-0 lead in this series.
For Cole, it’s the first goal of this series, and it’s even more incredible when you consider that this defenseman was a first round choice of the St. Louis Blues in 2007 (the 18and in total) … and that this goal is only the second of his career in the playoffs.
But that pretty much sums up the Carolina Hurricanes. A club that is not particularly spectacular, but a club that relies on efficient players, and a club that is run so well that it is exhausting to play against them.
The Rangers, coming back from some upset against the Pittsburgh Penguins, now face a whole different problem. Who are we watching when we face those Hurricanes? In this somewhat anonymous group, everyone is able to put on the hero’s cape. Wednesday was the turn of Ian Cole, and if it is, the next time it will be the turn of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, only 21 years old, who scored his first point in eight playoff games on Wednesday.
At Rangers, the rest is quite easy: you have to forget that one and immediately think about the next one, because 9 times out of 10, this kind of performance should lead to a victory.
PHOTO CHRIS SEWARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Igor Shesterkin and Ryan Lindgren
After 40 minutes, Rangers had a 23-14 lead on the penalty board, but only a 1-0 lead on the scoring board. Goalkeeper Antti Raanta, a career reserve, will eventually crack, and if there’s one place Rangers need to feel confident, it’s in goal.
But not Wednesday.
On Wednesday, it was Prince Igor who allowed the bad goal that he shouldn’t have, to a player who didn’t ask for so much.
In Ian Cole’s place, we’d go get a 6/49 right away.