Rangers fans go wild at Madison Square Garden watch party as New York advances to Eastern Conference finals

Rangers fans went into delirium during the team’s Game 6 viewing party at Madison Square Garden, as New York kept the Carolina Hurricanes from coming back to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

Thousands of fans clad in red, white and blue watched their team on the Garden’s jumbotron on Thursday, and many bounced around the arena after New York beat the Hurricanes 5-3 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

This was the Rangers’ first time reaching the Eastern Conference Finals since the 2021-2022 season.

New York went from cruising through the NHL playoffs with an unbeaten record to suddenly struggling to close out a second-round series despite holding a huge lead (3-0) before Carolina won two games in a row.

Worse still, the Rangers found themselves in difficulty entering the third period with the prospect of having to play a Game 7.

A sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden showed up to the Rangers’ Game 6 viewing party

New York returns to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since the 2021-22 season

Instead, Chris Kreider took over to ensure the Presidents’ Trophy winners finally closed out the Hurricanes.

Kreider scored a third-period hat trick to help the Rangers erase a two-goal deficit, a stunning reversal after their playoff momentum had gone decidedly in the wrong direction.

“We talk about being a resilient, competitive group,” Kreider said, “and I think we showed that tonight.”

Kreider single-handedly erased the Hurricanes’ 3-1 lead early in the final period. The go-ahead score came when he positioned himself on Jalen Chatfield at the top of the crease and tipped in Ryan Lindgren’s pass to make it 4-3 at 15:41.

Rangers left winger Chris Kreider scored a third-period hat trick to lead New York’s late comeback

This made Kreider the third Rangers player to score three goals in a decisive game and the first since Mike Gartner in 1990. It also recalls famous captain Mark Messier’s “guarantee” game in 1994, when he scored a hat trick in the third period. in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against New Jersey after promising the Rangers would force a Game 7. The Rangers won the series and their most recent Stanley Cup title that season.

“We just had to go out there and make a decision in the third period,” said Vincent Trocheck, a former Hurricane who scored the Rangers’ first goal on a deflection in the second period. “You either show up and perform and be a part of the show or you don’t. I think we had 20 guys show up in the third.

Barclay Goodrow finished this one by reaching for a loose puck near the boards and scoring a long goal into an empty net in the final minute, sending Goodrow to the nearby Rangers bench to be mobbed by his teammates.

This sent the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the winner of Boston-Florida, with the Panthers leading that series 3-2.