Raleigh, NC— Chris Kreider scores three goals in the third period to send the New York Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals in a 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 6 Thursday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC.
Kreider joins Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier as the only Rangers to score a playoff hat trick in any period.
“That was wild, kind of what the series was like every game was so close,” Kreider said. “It’s a result of us shooting more, I just happened to be on the end of a bunch of those plays. It’s where I tend to hang out and it’s just one of those nights.”
The Hurricanes led 3-1 to start the third period and were on the brink of becoming just the tenth team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit before Kreider’s heroics.
“More pucks, more bodies,” Kreider said of the message going into the third period. “Give ourselves a chance, throw it in that paint and creating a little bit of chaos.”
The Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three years. The Rangers were the 2024 Presidents’ Trophy winners with a record of 55-23-4 and 114 points.
“We’re playing the best team in the league,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour stated after his team’s season-ending loss. “We look back on those first three games, we lost by a goal in overtime. There’s a play here and there and we just didn’t find it.”
The Hurricanes opened the scoring with a pass from Jordan Martinook to an open Martin Necas for a close-range shot to make it 1-0 with 1:22 remaining in the first period.
Seth Jarvis scored on a rebound on the power play to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead 4:38 into the second period.
51 seconds later the Rangers would answer with a goal of their own with a deflection by Vincent Troucheck to cut the Carolina lead to 2-1 at 14:31 of the second period.
Sebastian Aho regained the Hurricanes’ two goal lead with a goal of his own to make it 3-1 with 10:37 left in the second period.
The Rangers would cut the Hurricanes’ lead to one with a goal by Chris Kreider at 13:17 in the third period to make it 3-2 Hurricanes. Kreider then scored again to tie the game 3-3, this time on the power play with a deflection with 8:06 left to play in the third period.
The Rangers would take a 4-3 lead at 4:19 remaining on the third goal of the period by Kreider.
The Rangers added an empty-net goal by Barclay Goodrow with 48.1 seconds left in the game.
Now the Rangers will wait to see who they play in the conference finals—either the Boston Bruins or the Florida Panthers, who play Game 6 in Boston Friday night at TD Garden.
Hockey Valley 2.0 
Leave a comment