NEW YORK (AP) — Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored and the New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on Sunday in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider had two assists as the Rangers, playing for the first time since completing their first-round sweep of Washington one week earlier, won their seventh straight including the regular season.
Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots to become the third goalie in franchise history to open a postseason with five straight wins, joining Dave Kerr (1937) and Mike Richter (1994).
Jaccob Slavin, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis each had a goal for Carolina, which last played Tuesday night when it finished its first-round win against the New York Islanders. Frederik Andersen finished with 19 saves.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night.
The Hurricanes had the second-best power play in the NHL during the season and the top penalty-killing unit. However, they went 0 for 5 with the advantage against a Rangers team that was third on the PK. New York was 2 for 2 on its power plays that totaled 23 seconds.
STARS 2, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Radek Faksa broke a tie in his return to the Dallas lineup, 20-year-old Wyatt Johnston scored in another Game 7 and the Stars beat defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas to wrap up the first-round series.
After being out with an undisclosed injury since leaving the bench late in Game 2, Faksa scored 44 seconds into the third period with a backhander from the circle to the left of goalie Adin Hill.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger had 21 saves in his second Game 7 victory. He also had the Stars’ only penalty, though they killed that off after he was called for tripping Ivan Barbashev in front of the net midway through the third.
The Stars, the No. 1 seed in the West, move on to play well-rested Colorado in the second round with the first two games in Dallas. The Avalanche wrapped up their series against Winnipeg with a Game 5 victory Tuesday night.
Brett Howden scored for Vegas, which couldn’t pull off another series winner in Dallas, where last year the Knights wrapped up the Western Conference Final with a win in Game 6. Hill had 22 saves in his third game of this series after Logan Thompson started the first four.
The visitor won the first four games in this series until the home teams held serve the last three games.
