PNC Arena hosts a second game seven this year as Rangers visit the Hurricanes

Here we are again. It is do or die. One team will progress to host the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, before we can talk about the Eastern Conference Finals, we have some unfinished business in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as there’s still one more game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers. It’s time for an unlikely hero to make his name tonight.

PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, is where this winner takes all, deciding game will be played. If the Hurricanes win, they will get back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time under this coaching regime. A defeat and the organization is left in a very difficult position. Can the Hurricanes defeat the New York Rangers one more time at PNC Arena and take the Metropolitan half of the Eastern Conference Playoff bracket?

This is not going to be an easy task for the Hurricanes. We know that the team has struggled majorly to solve the New York Rangers netminder. If the team wants to progress to the Eastern Conference Finals, they’re going to need to figure out a way to get bodies to the front of the net and start taking away the likely Vezina winners’ ability to see the puck. Make it hard by making him stop what he cannot see.

What happens to the lineup for this game? It is anyone’s guess. It could be any of the goalies, it could be any of the forwards, any of the seven defensemen. All that matters in this game is the result. Win and no one cares how you played. This is a results-based business and the bottom line is that the Hurricanes have to figure out a way to secure a win in this game. Do not let the best season in franchise history end with a second-round elimination.