RALEIGH, N.C. — The Rangers took to the final 20 minutes of Game 6 of their second-round series against the Hurricanes as if Game 7 wasn’t an option.
It required one of their signature comeback performances, but the Blueshirts — led by Chris Kreider’s natural hat trick — flipped the script with a four-goal third period Thursday to take a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes and advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three years.
Kreider, who said during the second intermission that he was going to score before he registered the first hat trick of his playoff career, spearheaded the effort to stun a Hurricanes team that had led for 51:54 of the 60-minute affair.
Asked what the victory meant to him as the Rangers’ longest-tenured player, Kreider stayed true to his even-keeled nature.
“It means we get to play more hockey,” he quipped.
There was lots of talk about series momentum coming into this one, after Carolina avoided elimination twice in the past five days.
Most downplayed the game-to-game swings, but there is no denying the Canes were rejuvenated from the moment they scored their first power-play goal of the series — snapping an 0-for-16 skid — to save their season in Game 4.
From there, the Hurricanes just got better and better — as if the Rangers’ uneasiness was directly fueling Carolina’s burgeoning confidence.
The Canes made their adjustments and they were working, but the Rangers had come too far to whiff a third time.
