The New York Rangers might regret letting this one slip away.
They played what might have been their best and most complete game of the playoffs, had a lead late in the third period, and then let it slip away against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Ian Cole scored the game winning goal in overtime to lift the Hurricanes 2-1 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
Here is a look at Cole’s goal.
This is a tough one for the Rangers.
They knew they were going to have to be better than they were in the First Round if they were going to have a chance at winning this series. And they were. For most of Wednesday’s game they defended at a level we never saw against Pittsburgh and had a lead with three minutes to play. But a sloppy shift and turnover in the neutral zone resulted in Sebastian Aho scoring the game tying goal with less than three minutes to play.
The good news for the Rangers is if they can duplicate this effort, they are going to have a shot at winning this. They were very fortunate to get through Pittsburgh with the way they defended and a repeat of that was going to probably result in a short series here against a better team that is not relying on a third-string AHL. They got that better effort on Wednesday. And that is the bad news for the Rangers. They played a great game, were in a position to get the result, and did not get it.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
Ian Cole lifts Hurricanes to overtime win in Game 1 originally appeared on NBCSports.com
