RALEIGH, N.C. — The New York Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference Final with a 6-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the second round at PNC Arena on Monday.
The Rangers, who are the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division, will have home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.
It’s New York’s first appearance in the conference final since 2015, when it was eliminated by Tampa Bay in seven games.
Chris Kreider scored two goals, Adam Fox and Andrew Copp each had a goal and an assist, and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad had three assists.
Carolina, which was the No. 1 seed from the Metropolitan, lost for the first time at home this postseason (7-1).
Antti Raanta made 16 saves before sustaining a lower-body injury late in the second period. He was replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov, who made nine saves.
Seth Jarvis also left the game with an upper-body injury for the Hurricanes after he was hit by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba early in the first period.
Fox gave New York a 1-0 lead at 3:40 of the first period when he took a drop pass from Alexis Lafreniere and scored glove side from the top of the right circle on a power play.
Kreider scored another power-play goal to push it to 2-0 at 8:00 when he redirected Zibanejad’s one-timer just above the crease.
Ryan Strome made it 3-0 at 16:19 of the second period when he shot short side on on a 2-on-1. The goal came 42 seconds after Kochetkov replaced Raanta.
Kreider extended the lead to 4-0 at 3:59 of the third period. He took a lead pass from Frank Vatrano, cut around Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin and lifted a backhand over Kochetkov’s left pad.
Vincent Trocheck cut it to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 8:11, but Filip Chytil scored 40 seconds later to make it 5-1.
Max Domi scored to make it 5-2 at 16:13 before Copp shot into an empty net at 17:08 for the 6-2 final.