Rangers lose Game 4 to Hurricanes on late goal by Brady Skjei, still hold 3-1 series lead

RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s a hockey cliche that the fourth victory in a playoff series is the hardest one to get. The Rangers found that to be true Saturday night when they attempted to finish off the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the teams’ second-round series at PNC Arena.

The Hurricanes, desperate to keep their season alive, dug in, and former Ranger Brady Skjei scored their first power-play goal of the series late in the third period to give Carolina a season-saving 4-3 win and deny the Rangers their second sweep of the playoffs.

The Rangers will take a second crack at getting that fourth series win and advancing to the Eastern Conference finals in Game 5 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

“I think you would have loved to be able to win this game here and move on,’’ Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “But you know they’re not going to go down too easy. So we regroup, obviously learn from some of the mistakes, and try and get that win on home ice.’’

Special teams won the first two games of the series for the Rangers, with the power play connecting on 4 of 13 chances (30.8%) and the penalty kill going 15-for-15, plus scoring a shorthanded goal in Game 3.

But there weren’t many power-play opportunities in this one for either team. The Rangers had only one and the Hurricanes had two. The second one came at 16:17 of the third period, with the score tied at 3, when Ryan Lindgren fell and ended up tripping Jordan Martinook.

Lindgren is on the first-pair defense on the penalty kill, and without him, coach Peter Laviolette sent Fox out to partner with Jacob Trouba. Fox and Trouba are righthanded shots, so the defense had an unusual look to it.

Skjei scored 32 seconds into the power play when he one-timed a shot off a pass from Teuvo Teravainen from above the right circle that got past Igor Shesterkin (27 saves in his first loss of the postseason) at 16:49.

“Eventually they’re gonna get their looks,’’ Trouba said. “They got their chances. Igor’s making big saves. It’s a good shot from the point. Not really, necessarily, something we did wrong. It’s a good shot. [You] tip your cap sometimes.’’

“I thought the penalty kill was still good,’’ Laviolette said. “They took a shot from the point, he hammered it. It had eyes. It was a top-corner shot. traffic in front of the net. There was a lot going on there.’’

Shesterkin, who allowed four goals, saw his playoff streak of allowing three or fewer goals end at 30 games.

The Rangers had won their first seven games in this year’s playoffs. That tied the franchise mark set by the 1994 Rangers and was two short of the NHL record of nine consecutive wins to start a postseason set by the 1985 Edmonton Oilers.

Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, who started the first six games of the postseason for the Hurricanes but was replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3, was back in net for Carolina in Game 4. Andersen made 22 saves.

To some extent, Skjei’s goal bailed out Andersen after he allowed a weak goal by Alexis Lafreniere early in the third period to tie the score at 3.

The Rangers trailed 3-2 entering the third period, but Lafreniere — who scored two goals in Game 2 and another in Game 3 — scored from behind the goal line off the right-wing goalpost when he flipped a backhand shot off Andersen’s leg and in.

Carolina’s Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 1:51 into the game, and the Hurricanes went ahead 2-0 — their first multi-goal lead of the series — when Stefan Noesen won the race to a rebound in the slot and banged it home at 6:33.

Will Cuylle scored his first career playoff goal 1:33 later when Kaapo Kakko sprung him for a breakaway from the blue line and he beat Andersen with a wrist shot from the slot.

Sebastian Aho restored Carolina’s two-goal lead when he banged home a pass from Jake Guentzel at 15:29. Aho got away from Artemi Panarin (on for all three Carolina goals in the period) and was alone in the slot.

But the Rangers picked things up in the second and pulled within 3-2 on a goal by Barclay Goodrow. Jimmy Vesey won a battle along the right- wing boards and played the puck back to defenseman Braden Schneider, who whipped a shot through traffic that was deflected in by Goodrow at 12:43.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.