The start of the second round of the 2024 playoffs felt a lot like 2022 for the Carolina Hurricanes, as they lost the special teams battle to fall 4-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers made the Canes pay for their lapses, as less than three minutes into the game Mika Zibanejad finished off a grade-A chance to make it 1-0.
The Hurricanes responded quickly when a point shot by Jaccob Slavin deflected off a Ranger’s skate and by Igor Shesterkin to level the score.
Shesterkin looked shaky in the first period, as he fumbled a routine glove save and got beat by two more shots that hit the post, but Carolina couldn’t make him pay, and New York’s lethal power play got to work.