This is now a series, folks. The New York Rangers avoided the dreaded 0-3 series hole with a win in Game 3. Will the Rangers tie it all up with another victory this coming Tuesday? Or will the Hurricanes recover and go up 3-1? Check out our preview below of this Hurricanes vs. Rangers 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs tilt.
It’s now the Hurricanes’ turn to show their grit in the series. After tasting their first loss in the second round with a 3-1 setback at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Carolina will look to provide better scoring for their goalie in Game 4 – whoever that will be. Antti Raanta could get another start this Tuesday, with Frederik Andersen still seemingly not 100% ready to give it a go. He was solid in Game 3 with 30 saves on 32 shots. It’s just that the Hurricanes couldn’t solve Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to give Raanta bigger scoring support. Nevertheless, the Hurricanes won the possession battle in Game 3 with 44 shots to just 33 by the Rangers and had a 62.43 xGF% – good signs for Carolina heading to Game 4.
The Hurricanes are 5-5 in their last 10 road games.
The Rangers badly needed a win in Game 3 and they got exactly that, thanks to the exceptional play in front of the net by Shesterkin, who’s been having quite a second round. Shesterkin made 43 saves on 44 attempts faced in Game 3. He’s now rejected 339 saves over his last 10 in this postseason – the most in franchise history in a single playoff run. Shesterkin was also glad to see his teammates come up with enough goals to give him a nice cushion to work with, as Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Tyler Motte each found the back of the net. Zibanejad’s goal was on the man advantage, the Rangers’ first power-play goal in the series, while Kreider’s goal was his sixth of the postseason – the most among skaters on the team.
The Rangers will enter Game 4 with a 4-0 record in their last four games as the home team.
