from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

We all know about the Hurricanes’ fortress in Raleigh, N.C., where they have gone 7-0 this postseason, but let me tell you, the Rangers are operating within a Fortress of Solitude on their side that might be of more value.

Because the Blueshirts will go into Game 7 on Monday night at Carolina with goaltender Igor Shesterkin providing a growing and dramatic disparity in net when measured against the suddenly floundering Antti Raanta, who was yanked very early in the second period of the Blueshirts’ 5-2 Game 6 victory at the Garden on Saturday night.

This second-round series may in fact come down to location, location, location. The relevant piece of property, however, might be not Carolina’s home arena, but rather the vicinity around the nets at either end of the rink. If the Rangers can press that advantage, a trip to the conference finals to take on the mighty Lightning will loom.

“Tonight was a very important game,” Shesterkin, apparently a master of the obvious in any language, said through a translator. “We had to win and that’s what we did.”

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