Alexis Lafreniere picked a good time to get off the schneid.
The Rangers forward opened the scoring in Game 2, firing a bullet past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Anderson at 10:44 of the first period — his first playoff goal in 28 postseason games.
His last playoff tally came May 11, 2022 in Game 5 of the Blueshirts’ first-round series against the Peguins.
His next wouldn’t take nearly as long.
With the Hurricanes up 2-1 — Jake Guentzel tied it up just over four minutes later and Dmitry Orlov redirected a shot past Igor Shesterkin with six seconds left in the opening period — Lafreniere struck again.
The 22-year-old kept Orlov’s goal from stealing all the moment by slipping Adam Fox’s cross-ice pass behind Anderson to tie it up at 12:28 of the second.
The Rangers may need some extra heroics from Lafreniere, however, as Guenztel notched his second of the night with 1:42 left in the frame to put Carolina up 3-2.
Lafreniere entered Game 2 with five assists through five games in the playoffs, with big things expected after he posted career-best offensive numbers across the board in the regular season: 28 goals, 29 assists and 57 points in his fourth NHL season.
