NHL

Rangers’ status as NHL’s comeback kings furthered in wild Game 6 win

You can never count out the Rangers.

The Blueshirts used a third-period comeback — thanks to Chris Kreider’s natural hat trick — to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 win, knocking out the Hurricanes in Game 6 on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.

The Rangers had been in the position plenty of times before, leading the NHL this regular season with 28 come-from-behind wins.

The Rangers used another comeback to win Game 6.
The Rangers used another comeback to win Game 6. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST

And in this round alone, the Rangers had two previous wins after trailing Carolina, winning Game 2 after falling behind 2-1 and 3-2 at different points before taking Game 3 after trailing 1-0 after one period.

The coup de grâce for the Rangers came after the trailed 3-1 after two periods on Thursday night, which came after Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook made a very late candidate for Save of the Year after diving for a loose puck at the goal line to prevent a Ryan Lindgren goal in the second period.

Undeterred, though, the Rangers were picked up by the 12-year vet in Kreider, who scored a backhander at 6:43 of the third before tipping in a shot from the point at 11:54 to knot things up.

Kreider put the Rangers ahead for good with a goal near the crease with 4:19 to go before Barclay Goodrow added an empty-netter.


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In scoring three goals in the third, Krieder became the third Ranger, joining Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky, to notch a hat trick in one period in the playoffs.

“Chris Kreider’s name is going to be in the rafters because of this one. Nobody will ever forget this. This is a Ranger classic,” Steve Valiquette said on the MSG Network postgame show.

It was the third time the Rangers came back to win this series.
It was the third time the Rangers came back to win this series. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST

Kreider’s historic effort was just another notch in the Rangers’ comeback belt.