Hurricanes defeat Rangers, eliminate them from playoff contention

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New York Rangers from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 7-3 win at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists, Jackson Blake and Jordan Staal each had a goal and an assist, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 28 saves for the Hurricanes (47-27-5), who had lost four in a row. Sebastian Aho had two assists.

“That’s how it has to happen,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You talk about your top guys, I thought that line (Jarvis-Aho-Blake) was really good. But everyone had a hand in it.”

Carolina will finish second in the Metropolitan Division and face the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference First Round.

J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (37-36-7), who have lost four of their past five and will miss the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck each had two assists, and Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves.

“It’s disappointing for everybody,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “That certainly wasn’t anybody’s plan coming into the year, especially coming off of last year. And yet here we are. We had opportunities over the last 20 games to make our own noise and make our own way, and we didn’t do that. So it’s on us. We needed to do better.”

The Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy last season after finishing with the best record in the NHL (55-23-4).

"You can't just show up and expect it to go the same way it did last year,” Trocheck said. “We earned it last year. We certainly didn't earn it this year."

Carolina took a 1-0 lead at 9:02 of the first period when Jalen Chatfield put a wrist shot under the crossbar from the point.

Jarvis made it 2-0 at 17:46. He took a no-look pass by Aho from behind the goal and chipped the puck past Shesterkin from the left hash marks.

“Obviously we haven’t been able to win as of late, so it was good to get back on track,” Aho said. “Especially how we started the game was good, and [how we] took over there.”

Blake gave Carolina a 3-0 lead at 2:02 of the second period. His centering pass went off the skates of Jarvis, who then tipped the puck back to the rookie forward for a goal from the left side of the crease. Blake has six goals in eight games after a 22-game goal drought.

“It was a matter of time before those chances started going in,” Jarvis said. “He’s a really good player, and they’re not going to hold him off forever. It’s nice to see him score.”

Mark Jankowski made it 4-0 at 12:59 with a snap shot in the right face-off circle off a pass from William Carrier.

Will Cuylle cut it to 4-1 at 19:43 with a low snap shot from the left circle.

Staal extended it to 5-1 at 3:45 of the third period. He skated from Carolina’s defensive zone, held off New York defenseman Braden Schneider and drove to the net before scoring with a shot under Shesterkin’s right arm.

Miller pulled New York within 5-2 on the power play at 6:07, one-timing a shot in the left circle.

Adam Fox then made it 5-3 at 9:02, scoring with a backhand after Panarin fed him cutting to the slot.

Jordan Martinook scored an empty-net goal to make it 6-3 with 3:33 remaining, and Logan Stankoven added another with 2:01 left for the 7-3 final.

The Rangers are 4-8-1 in their past 13 games.

“I think there’s always expectations here,” Laviolette said. “I think every year this team has gone in expecting to be successful, expecting to win a Stanley Cup, so the disappointment is real.

“Even tonight, we didn’t do the right things well enough in order to be successful. We give up three goals, point blank in front of the net. It can’t happen. It’s been pretty consistent all year. We haven’t played well enough to win hockey games.”

NOTES: The Rangers are the fourth team to miss the playoffs the season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy (2014-15 Boston Bruins, 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres and 1992-93 Rangers). … The Hurricanes won all four games against the Rangers, sweeping a season series against them for the first time since the franchise moved to Carolina for the 1997-98 season. The only other time the franchise has done it was in 1986-87 as the Hartford Whalers (three-game sweep). … In addition to his assist, Carrier had four hits in 10:48 in his return after missing 39 games with a lower-body injury. … Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (lower back) and forward Taylor Hall (rest) were scratched for Carolina.