The Carolina Hurricanes have their backs against the wall in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina will have home-ice advantage for the next two games against the New York Rangers. However, it's the Rangers who have a 2-0 series lead. Despite the deficit, forward Martin Necas is not wavering in his belief in his teammates.
Necas faced the media on Wednesday before Game 3. The Hurricanes forward understands the challenge ahead of him and his team over the next two games. But he also knows the skill of the players in the Carolina locker room. And he knows they won't give up fighting when they are still alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“We are confident in our group,” Necas said, via NHL.com, Wednesday morning. “It’s not like we are down 2-0 and it’s series over or we are hanging our head down. Tomorrow’s a new day. We have a strong team and I believe we can do this.”
Hurricanes experience heartbreak in Game 2
Martin Necas and the Hurricanes tried to mount a comeback in Game 1 but ultimately fell short. In Game 2, Carolina turned in an even better performance. In fact, they controlled play for large portions of the contest. But the Rangers kept pushing and were eventually rewarded in this war of attrition.
New York opened the scoring in the first period. Forward Alexis Lafreniere found the back of the net halfway through the period to give the Blueshirts the lead. But Carolina took the lead once before the end of the frame. Jake Guentzel and Dmitry Orlov scored to put the Hurricanes ahead.
In the second period, New York pushed for an equalizer. They found it thanks to Lafreniere once again. The former first-overall pick scored his second goal of the game to tie the contest. Once again, though, the Hurricanes took the lead before the end of the period. Guentzel scored his second of the game with less than two minutes remaining to make it 3-2.
In the third period, the Rangers were chasing the game. But they finally broke through, and it came from the most likeliest of sources. Chris Kreider added to his all-time lead for playoff goals among Rangers forwards to tie it 3-3. Game 2 went to overtime, but nothing was solved in one extra period.
In the second overtime, the Hurricanes took a costly penalty. Defenseman Brady Skjei was called for a cross-check against Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck. In the end, Trocheck got the last laugh. The former Hurricanes forward scored the game-winning goal on the ensuing powerplay to give New York its 2-0 series lead.
Keeping the faith
Martin Necas and the Hurricanes have their backs against the wall. And they hear the doubts from those outside the locker room starting to creep in. However, they aren't fazed by any of that. “I don’t really care,” Carolina forward Seth Jarvis said, via NHL.com. “We just worry about what’s in our room.”
Carolina knows they have played well for long stretches against New York. In fact, they vastly outshot the Blueshirts in Game 2 44-28. At even strength, the Hurricanes also had a large amount of the shot attempts, attempting 92 shots to New York's 75.
“There’s a ton of good parts to our game,” Jarvis said, via NHL.com. “We need to keep going. Five-on-five has been pretty good, especially last game; I think we kind of found it and had a lot more success. It’s tough to stay positive sometimes, but there are a lot of good things going on in our game right now.”
The Rangers hold a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3. But Carolina feels as if they are close to breaking through and making a statement in this matchup. Game 3 takes place on Thursday in Carolina with puck drop currently scheduled for 7 PM Eastern Time.
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