Rangers move within five points of playoff spot by beating Hurricanes  

RALEIGH, N.C. — At Friday’s morning skate, before taking on the Hurricanes in a game the Rangers saw as a playoff game of sorts for them, coach David Quinn was asked if he wished he could fast-forward to Tuesday, the day after the NHL trade deadline. That way, he would have his team set and wouldn’t have to talk about the deadline anymore.

“No,’’ he said. “I want it to be Friday night, about 9:30, having a beer, enjoying a win.’’

Quinn did get to enjoy the win he was looking for as his red-hot team earned a 5-2 victory over Carolina.

“In the three previous games [against the Hurricanes], our goaltending was unbelievable — probably three of the better goaltending performances we’ve had all year,’’ Quinn said. “Tonight, it was a true team effort. I thought our goalie was good when we needed him to be, I thought we did a good job not keeping him too busy. Just from the forwards to the defense corps, we were really good.’’

The goalie in the first three games against the Hurricanes was Henrik Lundqvist, who historically is excellent against them. But on Friday, Quinn went with Igor Shesterkin, who made 27 saves to lift his record to 8-1 since being called up from AHL Hartford on Jan. 6.

“I thought we were going in the right direction before he got here,’’ Quinn said, “but he’s been on a hot run, and our guys have a lot of confidence in all of our goalies, but he’s been the guy that keeps winning.’’

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists and Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who blocked 24 shots as they won for the sixth time in the last seven games and the ninth time in the last 12.

The Rangers are six points behind the Islanders, who hold the Eastern Conference’s first wild card, and five points behind the Blue Jackets, who occupy the second wild-card spot but have played two more games than the Rangers. The Blueshirts are four points behind the Hurricanes and two behind the Panthers.

The Rangers will host the struggling Sharks at the Garden on Saturday night, and Ryan Strome said the Rangers (32-24-4) need to keep it up.

“This was a massive game for us,’’ he said. “I think it’s important we get on the plane here and enjoy this win tonight and be ready to go at the Garden tomorrow. It would be really easy to have a letdown game tomorrow and we’ve got to avoid that. Coming off such high emotions tonight, we’ve got to bring the same effort tomorrow.’’

With the team prioritizing winning games, Quinn dressed the same lineup as he had Wednesday, meaning unrestricted free agents-to-be Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast played rather than being held out for precautionary reasons so close to the deadline.

The Rangers led 1-0, courtesy of Zibanejad’s steal and breakaway goal at 16:41 of the first period, but the Hurricanes tied it on Brock McGinn’s goal at 3:25 of the second. Then the Rangers got a couple of lucky deflections to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

Fast’s shot deflected in off the skate of Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce at 9:48 and Brady Skjei scored from behind the goal line when he threw the puck toward the slot and it bounced in off the skate of Carolina defenseman Jake Gardiner at 16:09.

Panarin’s assist on Fast’s goal was his 50th assist and 80th point of the season and the 400th point of his NHL career. With the Rangers on the power play early in the third period, he recorded his 31st goal to make it 4-1 at 1:10.

Carolina’s Sebastian Aho scored a power-play goal at 5:12, but Strome added an empty-net goal with 1:48 remaining.

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.