Rangers Take 3-0 Series Lead vs. Hurricanes as Panarin Thrills NHL Fans with OT Goal

New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin scored one minute and 43 seconds into Game 3 overtime Thursday night to put the Carolina Hurricanes on the brink of elimination.

The goal sealed a 3-2 road victory and earned the Rangers a 3-0 Eastern Conference semifinal series lead.

After sweeping the Washington Capitals in the first round, this is the first Rangers team to start out the playoffs with a 7-0 record since 1994.

That was also the last year the Rangers won the Stanley Cup.

The Hurricanes, who finished the regular season with the third-best record in the NHL, struggled to beat Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin Thursday night.

Shesterkin made 45 saves Thursday night to backstop the Rangers to victory, two nights after making 54 stops during the Rangers’ double overtime victory in Game 2.

Hurricanes winger Jake Guentzel got the Hurricanes on the board first midway through the first period.

Carolina held onto the lead for the rest of the frame by killing off three straight Rangers power plays, while goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov turned aside breakaways from Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.

Chris Kreider stifled the Hurricanes’ momentum with a shorthanded goal halfway through the second period.

The tally marked Kreider’s second shorthanded goal of the playoffs, as well as Mika Zibanejad’s fifth shorthanded assist of the postseason.

Zibanejad also tied a franchise record with 12 points in the first seven games of the Rangers’ postseason.

Kreider’s goal continued the special-team dominance that has allowed the Rangers to put the Canes on the brink of elimination.

The Hurricanes finished the game having gone 0-for-5 on the power play. They are now 0-for-15 in the series.

Seven minutes into the third period, Alexis Lafrenière scored on a set face-off play to put the Rangers ahead for the first time.

Andrei Svechnikov evened the score with the Hurricanes’ net empty to tie the game in the final two minutes of regulation.

It then took less than two minutes of overtime for Panarin to put the Rangers ahead for good.

The Rangers could earn a ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three seasons with a win in Game 4. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, will fight to extend their postseason when the puck drops at PNC Arena Saturday at 7 pm ET.