The Carolina Hurricanes have become the first winner of the qualifying round in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina now joins the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, the Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues in the first round.
On Tuesday, the Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto to sweep the best of five series three games to none. The Hurricanes, which entered the series as the number six seed, outscored the Rangers 11-4 in 180 minutes of action. After a game one win of a score of 3-2, the Hurricanes beat the Rangers by identical scores of 4-1 in games two and three.
In the third game of the series, Sebastian Aho of Rauma, Finland, led Carolina in scoring with three points. The star sensation, who is only 23 years old, had two goals and one assist. Aho in fact was the only Hurricanes player with a multi-point game. Carolina’s other two goal scorers were Teuvo Teravainen of Helsinki, Finland, and Warren Foegele of Markham, Ontario.
A major story in this contest came down to goaltending. James Reimer of Arborg, Manitoba was exceptional, as he made several high quality saves. Reimer also made 37 saves in 38 attempts overall.
Tuesday also saw the National Hockey League playoff goaltending debut for rookie Igor Shesterkin of Moscow, Russia. At 24 years of age, it is clear that Shesterkin, and Russian netminder Alexandar Georgiev are the Rangers goalies of the future. Shesterkin was brilliant this season as he had a record of 10 wins and two losses, a goals against average of 2.51, and a save percentage of .932. Georgiev had a record of 17 wins, 14 regulation losses, and two losses in extra time, with a save percentage of .910.
The Rangers will also have to figure out what to do with Henrik Lundqvist. The native of Are, Sweden, who won the 2012 Vezina Trophy, had started 129 consecutive playoff games for the Rangers dating back to 2006 prior to Tuesday.
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