What We Learned: How much will home ice matter for Carolina in Game 7?

It perhaps should not come as a shock that in a game between a team with what is likely the best goalie on earth against a backup who you’d typically call “perfectly competent,” the former has been the difference.

It’s fair to say that in Game 6 on Saturday night, Antti Raanta simply did not have it, giving up two particularly weak goals and getting yanked from the game early in the second period. It’s also fair to say Igor Shestyorkin continues his brilliant regular season campaign into these playoffs and was very much the difference in every game this series.

Win or lose, Shestyorkin has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the Rangers, and really, he’s had maybe one bad outing — Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, when he gave up four goals in 20 minutes. In this series, though,