New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes “We started the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs before anyone else and from the very first meeting showed the rest of the teams continuing to fight for the 2024 Stanley Cup how to play hockey and put on a show. Seven goals — that's exactly how many the opponents gave to the audience at the very beginning of a grandiose series that deserved the role of the Eastern Conference final.
In the second meeting, the Blueshirts and the Hurricanes maintained the established performance bar. Seven goals again. Rangers win again with a score of 4:3. But there is a nuance.
Shesterkin was ready to punch Svechnikov. The series between the Rangers and Carolina was initially announced as a confrontation between Russian superstars. For the second game, their number decreased — Evgeny Kuznetsov dropped out of the lineup and missed the match. The rest of the Russians had to take all the attention. Andrey Svechnikov and Igor Shesterkin were very successful in this.
Even at the beginning of the meeting, Svechnikov made it clear to Shesterkin that he was not going to be loyal to him, despite the fact that both were compatriots. In the middle of the first period, the Carolina forward did not spare the Rangers goalkeeper who came out of the gate and knocked him down. This episode did not go unnoticed by Six and told Andrey everything he thought about him. Svechnikov, at that moment, was fighting off the rest of the Blue Shirts players, who surrounded him with the intention of punching him.
Already in overtime, Svechnikov and Shesterkin continued to sort things out. The Carolina forward, while fighting for the puck on someone else's net, hit Shesterkin in the hands with his stick. Igor instantly knocked out this same stick and could hardly resist hitting his opponent. It seems that if another similar episode had happened, the Rangers goalkeeper would have shown his boxing skills.
However, Shesterkin already emerged victorious. Igor played a wonderful match at the highest level, made many brilliant saves and stopped 54 shots in total. The Russian became the first goalie in Rangers history to make at least two career appearances in the NHL playoffs with 50 saves or more. The first such game happened back in March 2022, when in a match against Pittsburgh (3:4 OT) Shesterkin stopped 79 shots.
Panarin is cooler than the legendary Jagr. Without Shesterkin’s magnificent saves, no victory for the Rangers would have happened. But Artemy Panarin also made a significant contribution to the result. Khlebushka is used to being criticized for his ineffectiveness in the playoffs. However, the current Stanley Cup is changing the perception of Panarin. Artemy regularly scores points, scores winning goals and does not forget to provide his teammates with assists.
Today the Russian super forward had three of them at once. Moreover, the third was for the winning goal in the second overtime.
Thanks to three assists, Panarin not only brought the Rangers an important victory, but also achieved another historic achievement. The Russian forward surpassed Jaromir Jagr's record for the most effective actions in one season, taking into account the championship and playoffs. In the 2005/06 season, the legendary Czech forward scored 124 points (54+70) in the regular season and playoffs. Panarin broke this result and set a new franchise record. Now Khlebushka has 127 points (52+75) this season. And this is not the limit: the Russian has at least four matches to improve his performance.
The series score is 2-0 in favor of the club from New York. The team of Panarin and Shesterkin is still undefeated in the 2024 Stanley Cup.
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