SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
There were chants of “IG-or” “IG-or”, a familiar tune rung out by New York Rangers’ National Hockey League hockey fans, and typically heard in the heart of New York City at one of the Madison Square Garden Meca arenas. Goalkeeper Igor Shestekhin.
But this was 500 miles away in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the state capital hosts the Carolina Hurricanes’ Metro Division winners. This was where the Blueshirts sent the home crowd exiting rather early in a stunning surprise of game seven of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Before game time Tuesday night Carolina and its fans were overtly confident of extending their 7-game win streak at the PNC Arena.
It had been a win at home, lose on the road, best-of-seven series. Quickly, the Canes went up 2-0 at home, but in New York, the Rangers evened it at 2-2. Things remained in place when Carolina took game five, but in a struggle for survival, it was the Rangers pulling out game six at home, and now had to face an opponent that had yet to lose on home ice in these Stanley Cup playoffs.
Yup, it was a confident packed-house and home team set to reel in another one and move into the conference finals versus the two-time Tampa Bay Lighting NHL champions who raced past the favored Toronto team.
Except it was a reversal, a shocking 6-2 rout by New York that emptied the stands after about three periods. It was quickly 2-0 Rangers. First Mike Zibanejan assisted on a shot sent into the net by Chris Kreider, and shorty after a breakaway goal off the stick of Andrew Copp made it 2-0. Next, it became 3-0 when Ryan Reaves found Andrew Fox on the side of the net and the player from Jericho, Long Island, tallied, and 4-0 on an unassisted straight-up goal from Frank Vatrano.
Whew, a mess in front of the fired-up home fans. Twice the Canes called time out, and each time the visitors went to their bench, they brought joy to their fanatic fans back home and to the ones who traveled south to cheer on their Blueshirts.
There was some relief when Bruce Siebel finally broke the ice by taking the puck at mid-ice and ending it past goalie Igor and making it 4-1. Then it was 4-2 on Vernon Frochele’s steal of the puck.
But if there were now new hope for the home side, it disappeared fast on a breakaway goal scored by Kreider, and the final one by a liner off the stick of Vatrano that made it 6-2. That came in the fourth period and the seats began emptying. At the final buzzer, the joyful Rangers hopped their bench to celebrate and the Hurricanes circled them to reign congratulations, even exchanging hugs, and then brought their sticks to the ice at mid-court as the home fans saluted them for an impressive season.
As for the Rangers, now 52-24-6, they are not packing their gear and still playing after also winning round one of these Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Trailing 3-1 in games and the higher seed, New York pieced together three-straight victories. won game 7 at Madison Square Garden, receiving a rousing ovation from its fans and meeting up with the 4th-with seeded Hurricanes who had been especially tough on their home ice.
Said Rangers’ head coach Gerard Gallant, usually one of those quite types: “This is a young team we have and one that plays within its selves. They play from behind, score in bunches, and features an excellent goaltender. I’m not on their case much, they handle things well. Next, Tampa Bay and nice for us to open at home.”
Now that’s history. Now, after these two impressive wins, it becomes the upper echelon clash for New York when it faces back-to-back NHL champions Tampa Bay Lightning. Coming alive in a stretch run, Tampa Bay (51-23-8) came in as a 5th-seed and needed a big comeback after falling behind in games, 3-1 versus the 3rd-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs, and then winning the deciding seventh game at the Maple Leafs.
From there, they shocked the 2nd-seeded Florida Panthers with a four-game sweep, and in game four sent the Broward Arena full-house towards the exits.
So now the Lightning yields home ice again, with this best-of-seven series opening at Madison Square Wednesday night.
The winner there will be paired with the Western Conference survivor, either the Colorado Avalanche (56-19-7) or the Edmonton Oilers (49-27-6). Favored are the Avalanche (56-19-7) who bested the St. Louis Blues in six games, while the Oilers (49-27-6) eliminated Calgary also in six.
Four teams left, and if you expected the higher seeds to be on top of the heap, there’s only surprises, 5th-seeded Tampa Bay (51-23-8) in quest oa third title in a row versus a surprising 4th-seeded group of young and relentless Rangers, and in the West, the high-scoring 2nd-seeded Avalanche against the underdog Edmonton team, the 5th-seed who upset the 3rd-seeded Calgary Flames.
