Rangers reach Eastern Conference Final with 5-3 win over Hurricanes in Game 6

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Chris Kreider had a third-period hat trick to help the New York Rangers erase a two-goal deficit and beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in Game 6 on Thursday night to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

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

That finally allowed the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers to put away the Hurricanes, who had won two straight after falling into a 3-0 hole in the best-of-7 series. The Hurricanes appeared on the verge of forcing a Game 7 for a pressure-packed finale, but couldn’t contain Kreider and the Rangers’ surge in the final 14 minutes.

Barclay Goodrow finished this one off by getting to a loose puck near the boards and scoring a long empty-net goal in the final minute, sending Goodrow to the nearby Rangers bench to be mobbed by teammates.

That sent the Rangers on to the Eastern Conference Final to face the Boston-Florida winner, with the Panthers leading that series 3-2.

CANUCKS 3, OILERS 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — J.T. Miller scored with 33 seconds remaining to lead Vancouver to a victory over Edmonton that put them a win away from the Western Conference Final.

Carson Soucy and Phillip Di Giuseppe both scored in their returns to the lineup for Vancouver, which will try to wrap up the series in Game 6 on Saturday in Edmonton. Rookie Arturs Silovs made 21 saves for the Canucks.

With the game tied at 2, Vancouver’s Pius Suter fired a shot from near the boards and it bounced off the skate of teammate Elias Pettersson in front of the net and hit the post. Miller picked it up and batted it in for the go-ahead goal, his third of the playoffs.

Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark scored for the Oilers, who got 32 saves from Calvin Pickard.

Leon Draisaitl set up the first goal of the game, digging out a puck behind Vancouver’s net and backhanding it to Kane at the bottom of the face off circle. Kane snapped a shot past Silovs for his third goal of the postseason 4:34 into the game.

Draisaitl’s assist gave him at least one point in each of Edmonton’s 10 playoff games. He has eight goals and 13 assists in the postseason.

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This story has been updated to correct time of Miller’s goal to 33 seconds left instead of 31.9, per official stats.