Home still sweet: Hurricanes push Rangers to brink of elimination

If you’re a fan of the Hurricanes, you’re probably tired of all the home/road talk, between this series against the Rangers and the seven-game battle with the Bruins. However, those same fans strongly preferred that narrative carrying over with the series shifting back to Carolina. The Hurricanes did maintain that pattern, beating the Rangers 3-1 to win Game 5, and take a 3-2 series lead.

Roll your eyes all you want, but a lot did stay the same on Thursday night. Those factors played into Carolina’s favor.

Ultimately, it’s a small sample size. The Hurricanes could easily end that trend by beating the Rangers at MSG on Saturday. But it is a curious pattern.

Some patterns did end in this one, though.

That said, some things did indeed change on Thursday.

Among the continued highs of home games, Carolina hadn’t always been making things easy for themselves. In Game 5, the Hurricanes didn’t just score first against the Rangers; they collected their first goal in the first period of the series.

Speaking of firsts, Andrei Svechnikov scored his first goal and point of the series. It was a beauty, too, as he calmly finished a breakaway chance:

Svechnikov’s breakaway gives the Canes a two-goal lead