RALEIGH, N.C. — The Rangers have a chance to do something no other NHL team has done since the league adopted four rounds of best-of-seven series in 1987.
Becoming the first team since the 1985 Oilers to go 8-0 to start the playoffs if they capture a fourth straight win over the Hurricanes Saturday night, however, is not what the Blueshirts have come all this way for.
No, in a season of firsts for the storied franchise, there are bigger goals in mind.
This would just be another first.
In order to accomplish those, the Rangers need to help themselves by closing out their second straight four-game series.
Improving longevity is the immediate target here, and another stretch of rest would be vital to the long-term one.
“You just got to be hungry,” Jack Roslovic told The Post after an optional practice Friday afternoon at PNC Arena. “I mean, hungrier than ever.”
You don’t want to give any team hope when in the Rangers’ position, but it rings especially true against a team like the Hurricanes.
Carolina’s smothering style is designed to shift the winds in their favor and any gust they can muster will be fuel.
They are right there with the Rangers.
They’ve been right there for two years now.
The third-best team in the NHL this season is now looking to avoid getting swept in a playoff round for a second straight year, after the Hurricanes fell to the Panthers in four games in the Eastern Conference Final last season.
All seven of their losses between that 2023 sweep and the first three games of this series have been decided by a single goal, with four going to overtime.
The amount of frustration that has undoubtedly stemmed from that fact can be both a blessing and a curse.
“We’re focusing on how bad we’re playing but we’re really playing pretty damn good,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the Game 3 loss. “And I look at that, I’m separating. There’s two games going on here, and if you want to write the right story, that’s what’s going on.”
The fact this series has been as close as it has, coming off back-to-back overtime games, including Game 2 going to double overtime, makes the closeout game for the Rangers all the more important.
No one is more aware of how one-sided the special teams battle has been than the Hurricanes, who are 0-for-15 on the power play and 9-for-13 on the penalty kill.
Game 3 was the first time the Rangers didn’t hang multiple man-advantage goals on Carolina, but they made up for it with a big-time shorthanded score.
As a result, there were some personnel changes to the Hurricanes’ power-play units in their practice on Friday.
No one sees how big of a difference Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin has made more than the Canes.
Brind’Amour wouldn’t reveal his goaltender, but there’s a solid chance he goes back to Frederik Andersen, who lost the first two games, instead of Pytor Kochetkov, who backstopped the Hurricanes in the OT loss on Thursday.
“We got to be ready and make sure that we’re bringing our A-game for this next one,” Braden Schneider said. “It’s a big one.”
The last two NHL teams to be perfect through the first two rounds of the playoffs — the 1969 Blues and the 1985 Oilers — went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
And history does seem to be repeating itself a lot more than usual lately, hasn’t it?
