Rally – The “Ig-or! Ig-or” chant has been a familiar tune to the Rangers this season, but it’s often heard in the heart of New York City.
On Monday night, they broke out on multiple occasions in the North Carolina capital.
From pre-game festivities through to the final century in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the color blue of the Rangers was prevalent around the PNC arena. As the match continued and Carolina Hurricanes fans slowly headed toward the exits, they made way for the Blueshirts’ followers who invaded their home circuit.
Nearly 500 miles from Madison Square Garden, a New York-style party broke out.
They were celebrating a decisive 6-2 victory for their team, Rangers, who finished off the second-round streak with the assured message that they had arrived ahead of schedule.
“I said something to (Ryan Lindgren) right after the warm-up,” said Adam Fox. “I’ve noticed there seem to be more Blueshirt fans than in the last few games here. Obviously, when you get that support, it’s huge.”
The playoffs were an anticipation. The victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round was in the wheelhouse. But the rise of Metro Division Hurricanes champions in this way restricts the Rangers to the upper echelon of the NHL.
“It’s amazing,” Fox said. “We’re a resilient group there. We’ve said that all year. We’ve been up against the wall five times now and we’ve got past all five. We definitely want to keep that momentum going into the next round. We have bigger goals. It’s obviously a huge achievement for our team. But we just want to take it to the next round. The next turn is here.”
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The road will become more difficult from here.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning awaits in the Eastern Conference Final, which begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday at MSG. And while that confrontation will have its share of difficulties, this moment was for the Rangers.
They cut short the Canes’ winning streak in seven on-court games and captured the Raleigh, leaving their fans to bask in the glory of what the bouncing Blueshirts have accomplished.
“It was a sea of blue,” Chris Kreider said. “We’ve always been fortunate to travel well and have amazing fan support wherever we go. But this has been so inspiring.”
For a team they’d never seen before, his talent for rising to the occasion was the biggest benefit from these playoffs.
Rangers are now 5-0 in the knockout games, with the latter winning their first ticket to the quarter-finals since 2015.
And they haven’t finished yet.
“I love the way our guys compete and fight,” said coach Gerard Gallant. “I’ve said it 100 times this year. We’re not perfect, but we find ways to win.”
Igor Shesterkin: Best player performance
The goalkeeper’s match against Lightning and star Andrei Vasilevskiy would be epic, but it greatly favored the Rangers against the Hurricanes.
Igor Shesterkin was excellent from start to finish on this series and ended with an exclamation point.
“I was a little shaky before the match,” the 26-year-old admitted. “But when I get on the ice, I try to forget everything and try to keep my focus on the disc.”
His 37th Memorial Day performance was unforgettable, keeping Hurricanes off the plate until so long. Late goals from former goalkeeper Tony DiAngelo and Max Domie ended his chances of scoring a second close in Game 7 in franchise history. (The first came from Henrik Lundqvist in 2013 against Washington Capitals.)
Just as he did in Game 6, Shesterkin put in an inspiring first spell to rally his team and help them make an early lead.
While Carolina made an expected push and hit him with 16 shots in the first 20 minutes, they were constantly frustrated with his brilliance.
“When you come into a building like this and shut it down in the first period, it’s really big,” Gallant said. “And he did it tonight.”
Shesterkin held 222 of the 234 shots he encountered in the series, ending with a 0.949 save.
Meanwhile, backing Hurricanes Antti Raanta – who started all seven matches with a lower-body injury to Fredrik Andersen – simply couldn’t keep up with his Vezina Cup-tied counterpart.
“The goalkeeper is again our best player,” Kreider said.
open the gates
To be fair, Raanta’s teammates let him down with undisciplined play.
A link call on Sebastian Aho and a penalty too many for Rangers gave Rangers two powerhouse games in the first period, and they benefited from both.
The first resulted in a goal from Fox at the 3:40 mark. It was set up by a drop pass from Alexis Lafrenière and came after just two seconds of strong play.
The second PPG took just 14 seconds, with Kreider redirecting one timer from Mika Zibanijad to make it 2-0 after just eight minutes into the match.
“You can see the other games we didn’t start early, and we even gave up short goals,” Fox said of the strong play. “That changes the momentum. We played our strengths came to us all year. In the kind of games you want, and it happened today.”
That was all Shesterkin needed to secure the win as he continued to thwart Carolina’s attacks, but the Rangers provided additional protection.
The gates were opened after Ranta suffered a lower body injury while rushing to a save late in the second half. Won’t be back, taking full advantage of the Blueshirts.
Third-placed Ryan Strom conceded Peter Kochetkov with a goal to make it 3-0 with 3:41 left in the period, then Rangers withdrew with three more in the third inning.
Kreider added his second goal of the game, with Philippe Chettle taking his fifth playoff game, and Andrew Cope scoring a blank goal to complete the most convincing win of the series.
The kids are the winners
A total of 12 Rangers scored at least one point in Game 7, which was easily high in the series. Zibanegad got three, while Cope, Fox and Kreider each added a pair.
“That’s what we’ll need,” Fox said. “You can’t just be one or two players and rely on that because when that doesn’t work you’re not going to be in a good place. Everyone seems to be progressing, from strikers to D, playing Shesty like usual. It was great that everyone was able to contribute.”
Among those on the scoring list were four players aged 22 or younger – Chettel, Lavrenier, Capo Kaku and Candre Miller.
Even Gallant admitted there were concerns about how to deal with the post-season pressure, but they all came with flying colors.
“Kid Lane is there and Andre Miller and some of those kids, they’ve had great experience – 14 playoffs,” he said. “When I first asked about the experience against Pittsburgh, were I worried about it? Yes, I was. But I wouldn’t have told you that. Now, I feel so much better. These guys know how to play a playoff. They have been part of aggressive and hard hockey games and all of them.” They respond well.”
Not only did they respond – each seemed to raise the bar for their games on the big stage.
This bodes well not only for the present, but also for the future.
“I don’t think there are passengers,” Kreider said. “I don’t think the moment is too big for any of these guys. I think every single one of them is here for a reason. Not only are they really good people, but they were brought in because they’re winners.” Despite their quality in hockey, they want to win. They’ve won every level they’ve been to and they definitely brought that with them.”
Vincent Z. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter Tweet embed.