Carolina Hurricanes skate toward the NHL playoffs with 3-2 win in Game 1

The Carolina Hurricanes made history this afternoon winning the inaugural game in the NHL’s qualifying round — beating the New York Rangers 3-2. A huge win given the 75 percent probability of winning a best of five series when winning the first game, according to Google.

This would be the first-ever neutral-site postseason game in Canes franchise history. With no fans to draw energy from, the Canes came out and created their own electricity. Just 61 seconds into the game — Tuevo Teravainen slides a pass to Jaccob Slavin who beats Rangers All-Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist. A great start.

Minutes later, 38-year-old Justin Williams drops the gloves with Ryan Strome who’s eleven years his junior. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Conn Smythe winner showing his team the grit and toughness players must-have in the postseason.

In the 2nd period, Carolina extends the lead. Andrei Svechnikov setting up fellow youngster Sebastian Aho for a 2-0 lead. The Rangers answered that goal later in the period on a goal from Mika Zibanejad.

Both teams would add a short-handed goal. With New York on the power play, Martin Necas netted a shorty to give the Canes a 3-1 lead. With just under 2-minutes left to play, the Rangers made it interesting scoring a soft goal short-handed from the blue line on a shot from Marc Staal that beat Canes goalie Petr Mrazek to make it 3-2.

Game two on Monday at noon.