The question entering Monday night wasn’t whether the Rangers could win an elimination game or a high-stakes Game 7; it was whether they could beat the Carolina Hurricanes away from Madison Square Garden.
The answer is yes they can. The Rangers’ rather magical N.H.L. playoff run has, for the first time since 2015, carried them into the Eastern Conference finals, where, as they did then, they will play the Tampa Bay Lightning.
New York won on the road in North Carolina for the first time in the series, beating the Hurricanes, 6-2, to win the teams’ East semifinal bout four games to three.