Even in a second-round series between the two best teams in the Eastern Conference judging by their regular-season records, you could see some physicality and tensions coming to the matchup between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes.
After a relatively tame Game 1 in which New York took a 1-0 series lead on Monday, things got a little bit more heated as the Hurricanes marched on to drop the second consecutive game on a double-overtime 4-3 loss to the Rangers in Madison Square Garden.
A little over the halfway mark of the first period of Game 2, played on Tuesday, May 7, and with Carolina already down one goal, Andrei Svechnikov decided to agitate things and try to spark a reaction from his teammates.
Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin received the puck and controlled it behind the goal with 8:00 minutes left in the first frame. Svechnikov kept skating forward and rushing toward the goalie, ultimately hitting him on his left leg and forcing him to fall hard to the ice in a flying motion.
Igor Shesterking Willing to Drop the Gloves against Svechnikov?
Immediately following Svechnikov’s reckless play on Shesterkin all of the latter’s teammates caught and swarmed the Hurricanes players trying to confront him.
More surprising was Shesterkin’s own reaction as the goalie left his net and appeared to be willing to drop the gloves and fight the offender on the play, something that isn’t quite typical in the NHL when it comes to goalies.
Chaos ensued and a little scrum formed along the rink boards while the refs tried to separate members of both teams. The officials successfully prevented the situation from escalating further, let alone letting it turn into any single or multi-player fighting.
Svechnikov was called for a minor tripping penalty and was subsequently sent to the penalty box. It was an automatic call, considering all hits (even the slightest of touches) on a goalie are banned from the game and lead to disciplinary action, whether that’s in-game with a penalty or post-game with a fine or a suspension.
Hurricanes goalie Freddie Andersen was on the receiving end of the Rangers’ retaliation for Svechnikov’s reckless actions when rookie Matt Rempe skated toward him and iced him, prompting Carolina’s Jack Drury to push him making him fall.
Igor Shesterkin, Rangers’ Hero in Game 2
In a game that lasted nearly 88 minutes including the three regulation periods, a full overtime, and more than seven minutes of play of a second extra frame, Rangers goalie Shesterkin was the clear-cut player of the match.
Shesterking got the full 87:18 minutes of play, saw a bulky 57 shots, and impressively stopped 54 of them to help New York win its second game of the series and go up 2-0 with the matchup moving to Carolina for Games 3 and 4.
It was Shesterkin’s first overtime win this postseason, and he stopped nearly as many shots as his fellow netminder on the other side of the rink (39) in the third period and two overtimes alone as he prevented 32 shots from finding the Rangers net in those 47 minutes alone.
“It’s unbelievable feelings every time,” Shesterkin told reporters about the MSG crowd chanting his name, via MSG Network after the Game 2 win. “Every time, I was almost crying.
“We never give up, so we play till the end. Everybody play our game and so we deserved a win tonight.”
Vincent Trocheck scored the game-winning goal in the second overtime to hand New York a 2-0 series lead over the Carolina Hurricanes, who fell 4-3 to the Rangers for the second consecutive game and have now lost three of their last four playoff contests.
“Igor played an Igor-esque type of game tonight,” Trocheck told reporters during his postgame press conference on May 7. “He was outstanding, kept us in the game.
“He had 55 shots or something, which is insane. But whenever he’s on like that, it’s tough to beat him. And it’s tough to beat our team when he’s making saves like he was tonight.”
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