New York Rangers Hold on Late for Game 1 Victory
It was close, but they’ll take it. The New York Rangers opened up their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the Carolina Hurricanes in the ‘win’ column, holding on for a 4-3 victory to take a 1-0 series lead in what figures to be a slugfest of a best-of-seven series.
A lot of credit goes to Mika Zibanejad who scored a pair of goals in the first period to stake the Rangers to a 2-1 lead. Moments later Vincent Trocheck netted his fourth goal of the playoffs to make it 3-1.
From there it was all about holding on for the Blue Shirts. With less than two minutes to go in Game 1, Seth Jarvis nailed the puck past New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to cut the lead down to 4-3.
Sheskterkin came back and recorded one last save with less than a minute to go when he stopped a shot by Andrei Svechnikov to preserve the lead.
The Rangers leading goalie finished the night with 22 saves in net.
“We really wanted to have a good start, especially at home, Game 1,” Zibanejad said. “Been off for a few days and been able to rest, and I thought that was most noticeable. Guys were excited to play and when we’re able to score on our chances early on and get a little bit of momentum, that was good.”
The Rangers and Hurricanes continue their series on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. with the Blue Shirts looking to take a commanding 2-0 lead before the series shifts to Charlotte.
KNICKS NEXT
Meanwhile, the Garden is far from a quiet night. The New York Knicks will be in action on Monday night against the Indiana Pacers in the opener of that Eastern Conference Semifinal. Tip-off is just after 7:30 p.m., as the Garden remains the center of the sports universe.
