Lazerus: The Rangers prove their championship prowess after flirting with infamy

RALEIGH, N.C. — Evgeny Kuznetsov, in his inimitable, mischievous way, promised the New York Rangers “hell” in the event that they needed to return to North Carolina for Game 6 of this increasingly indescribable second-round series.

Oh, but that wasn't hell. Not even with a “Raise Hell” theme for the evening. Not even when AC/DC's “Hells Bells” plays before the puck drop. Not even when Carolina's notoriously loud fans reached recent heights because the Hurricanes took a two-goal lead within the third period at PNC Arena. That was nothing.

No, hell would have been the results of a possible Game 7 had the Rangers not pulled themselves out of the slump in time to avoid wasting that series. Hell would have been living with the utter failure of losing within the second round after winning the primary seven games of the playoffs. Hell would have been the shame of becoming the fifth team in Stanley Cup playoff history to blow a 3-0 lead. Hell would have tried to sleep while reliving Jordan Martinook's one-of-a-kind, spectacular save within the second period of Game 6, when he swept Ryan Lindgren's gut shot over the goal line after it had already beaten Frederik Andersen through the legs.

Hell would have all the time known that they passed up a golden opportunity to win the Rangers' second Stanley Cup in 84 years, squandering among the finest seasons in franchise history.

“I was just scared to think about it,” said Artemi Panarin.

Panarin can admit that now. Now the Rangers have proven their skills. Now Chris Kreider, alongside players like Matteau and Messier, etched himself in Rangers history with a natural hat trick, turning a 3-1 third-period deficit right into a 5-3 Game 6 win in front of a silenced, shell-shocked Carolina transforms crowd. Now the Rangers' next game at Madison Square Garden shall be against either the Florida Panthers or Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, reasonably than a winner-take-all Game 7 against the never-say-die Hurricanes .

Post-game locker rooms are never this loud within the NHL after series victories that don’t have anything to do with the Stanley Cup itself. The players are too drained and there continues to be an excessive amount of to do. Save the champagne, plastic wrap and ski goggles for the tip of June. That's why there wasn't much to have fun within the narrow visitors' room on the PNC Arena after this game. But there was palpable relief knowing the Rangers were flirting with shame reasonably than embracing it.

“To be honest, I felt kind of nervous on the bench when we were down a few goals,” said Panarin, who sometimes seems unable to beat the same old wall of casual bravado that almost all skilled athletes throw up. “And we were still on the ground in the third period. I was actually nervous. But we did it – thank God.”

Funny how quickly things can change.

Trailing 3-1, the Rangers handled the puck like a hand grenade, repeatedly missing the web. Then Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen lost a puck from Mika Zibanejad in his skates and Kreider knocked it in.

Rangers' power play was lifeless as they created nine possibilities in a row, barely scored a goal and had only a few real possibilities. Then Kreider tipped in a rising Panarin shot and the sport was tied.

The game seemed destined for extra time as each teams closed the gaps. Then Kreider crowned his hat trick and the Hurricanes remained in trouble.

Nine minutes. Nine minutes to show a 3-1 deficit right into a 4-3 lead, for Kreider to go from franchise pillar to franchise legend, for an all-time Rangers choke job, for the Rangers- Gut check of all time, for an all- It's time for the Hurricanes' comeback to grow to be a what if of all time.

“They're a great team,” said Barclay Goodrow, who eased the sport with a 143-foot empty-netter with 48.1 seconds left. “It's not like we're 3-0 up and they turn around and give up. They are a really good team and we knew they would bounce back. We may have had a disappointment last game, but I think throughout the season, whenever that happened, we recovered and came back stronger the next game.”

It's one thing to make it within the regular season. It's completely different to do it within the postseason. And now the Rangers know what they’re able to. New York's two best lines might have been standing on milk cartons in recent games. In Game 6, they combined for 4 goals and 6 assists in the ultimate 35 minutes. Like Kreider, Shesterkin found his all-world form, denying Carolina captain Jordan Staal from point-blank range just before Kreider's equalizer on the facility play after which uncontrollably hitting Andrei Svechnikov from the low slot with 2:39 left as Andersen pulled away . The Rangers were tested for the primary time – really tested – they usually pulled it off.

The Rangers would never come into the sport 16-0; That just doesn't occur within the NHL. It's higher this manner. Championship teams are forged within the fires of frustration and futility. Championship teams discover a way.

On the opposite end of the handshake line was a team still trying to seek out that path. For the fourth straight season, the Hurricanes seemed to be an actual contender. For the fourth time in a row, the playoff run ended and not using a win beyond the second round. There were the same old culprits too. For all their strengths – the relentless forecheck that wreaks havoc within the offensive zone, the Rod Brind'Amour-esque work ethic that results in miraculous plays like Martinook's save, the deep back end that enables them to pace themselves so well control – the Hurricanes still haven't scored enough points from the front and still haven't made enough saves from goal. Jake Guentzel, their big signing, the long-sought sharpshooter, has been absolutely great in his short time in Carolina, but has no goals and just one assist within the last three games. Midway through the second period, Sebastian Aho scored on a shot from Andrei Svechnikov an enormous goal to make it 3-1, but this dynamic top team still finished the postseason 5-4 in five-on-five systems.

And then there’s Andersen. Playoff Freddie (technically an unfair nickname, but late within the A Series Freddie isn't exactly a looker) reared its ugly head again, falling to 5-8 (including wins in Games 4 and 5) before elimination. He managed just 19 saves on 23 shots, along with his save percentage dropping to a paltry .897 in elimination games. He's 0-4 with an .856 save percentage in Game 7, so Carolina would have had so much to beat on Saturday night even when the Rangers hadn't capitalized on this chance.

It's a well-recognized refrain and a well-recognized pain.

“It's a tough end to a really good year,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “These guys have been working their asses off all year. But that's what you'll remember. That’s the hard part.”

Now the Rangers have just a few days off and may sit back and watch the Bruins and Panthers go at one another for an additional game (preferably two). All the stress that has weighed on them since their loss in Game 4 has now worn off, but it should come back with a vengeance the subsequent time the puck drops. All this work and all this sweat and all this energy expended, they usually're only halfway there. This is playoff hockey – a relentless, excruciating, torturous mental and physical battle, beautiful but brutal at the identical time.

Damn, you would possibly say.

But one the Rangers now know they’ll handle. One that they now know they might be successful at.

“We just tried not to get frustrated,” Panarin said. “This is the playoffs. It goes up and down each time. Sometimes it's difficult. But we did it.”