The Carolina Hurricanes headed into the 3rd period trailing the New York Rangers and their season looking like it was coming to a close as the Rangers looked to close them out at home in Game 5.
Carolina fought back and trailed by a goal with 20 minutes remaining, but the pressure didn’t seem to phase them as they were able to rally and take Game 5, trimming the Rangers series lead to 3-2 and forcing a Game 6 back in North Carolina.
“There was no panic, we understood what the situation was,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said (h/t Associated Press). “It wasn’t like we were dead. … You were one shot away, and that’s the way they approached it.”
“No one was definitely hanging any heads,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “We knew we had to have our best period, and we did. We’re going to have another huge challenge going back home in a couple of days. … We’re fighting for our lives and the boys showed up and it showed.”
The momentum has shifted in a series that, at one point, the Rangers held a 3-0 lead. New York has now dropped 2 straight and heads back to North Carolina for Game 6 on Thursday night with another opportunity to close the series.
“One game at a time,” Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. “If you had told me it would be 3-2 against the second-best team in the league with an opportunity to close it out, that’s a pretty good spot to be in. We’ll just go down there and play better, be more detailed. Find a way to win.”
“Got some time here before the next game, but clearly we got do a lot of things better,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “There were a lot of issues tonight. We’ll go back and look at it and we’ll try to correct those issues.”
