Rangers on brink of elimination, hope for rare feat in best-of-5 series

Igor Shesterkin will be the starting goalie for the New York Rangers when they face potential elimination from the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Tuesday.

The rookie, who was ruled unfit to play for the Rangers in their first two games of the qualifier series against the Carolina Hurricanes, will start in the must-win Game 3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS, MSG, FS-CR)

"He's ready to go, and whoever we put in net we think they give us the best chance to win," coach David Quinn said. "That's why we went with [Shesterkin] tonight."

The Rangers will try to begin a comeback that has been accomplished once in NHL history. Teams that have lost the first two games are 1-55 winning a best-of-5 NHL series (1.8 percent) and 1-39 from 1980-86. The New York Islanders defeated the Washington Capitals in a 1985 series.

The winner of the best-of-5 series between the No. 6 seed Hurricanes and No. 11 seed Rangers will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.

RELATED: [Rangers vs. Hurricanes Game 2 Recap]

"We've got to find that energy from this point to puck drop tomorrow," Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said following a 4-1 loss in Game 2 on Monday. "I've liked our resiliency all year long. I've liked our team. I know we're going to come out strong. We're looking forward to that now."

Henrik Lundqvist started Games 1 and 2, allowing seven goals on 71 shots (.901 save percentage), including four on 34 shots in Game 2.

Shesterkin, who practiced Friday, watched the games from the stands. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information. Alexandar Georgiev was Lundqvist's backup.

The Rangers, who lost Game 1 on Saturday 3-2, need more from their top skaters, Quinn said.

"If you're going to win, your best players have to be your best players, and our best players have to outplay their best players," he said. "That's something that we certainly have to have tomorrow night."

Artemi Panarin scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal for the Rangers in Game 2, but the right wing, a finalist for the Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) after scoring 95 points (32 goals, 63 assists) in the regular season, has been limited by the Hurricanes.

Mika Zibanejad scored for New York in Game 1, a 3-2 loss, but the center also hasn't had nearly the same impact he had in the final weeks of the regular season, when he led the NHL with 23 goals and 36 points in 22 games from Jan. 31-March 11.

Left wing Chris Kreider has one assist and three shots on goal and right wing Pavel Buchnevich has no points and four shots on goal. Center Ryan Strome has an assist but is minus-3 with three shots on goal. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo has an assist but is minus-2.

"We're getting frustrated," Quinn said. "There is no easy ice out there and we need to understand that. We've got to be consistently trying to earn our ice. They do a good job taking it away. I give them credit. You never want to take credit away from an opponent, but I know we can be better, and we have to be better in a hurry."

Quinn said the Rangers have to show more poise and patience. Too often he said they're trying to make the big play happen when it's not there.

He'd be OK if they settled for a quiet shift when neither they nor the Hurricanes get a scoring chance. But that's a work in progress with a young team that entered the Qualifiers as the second youngest of the 24 teams, an average age of 25.7 (Chicago Blackhawks, 25.6).

"Between now and tomorrow night at 8 o'clock we have to learn we can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot," Quinn said. "I mean, our lack of patience is killing us. Was it better [in Game 2] than it was [in Game 1]]? Yeah, it was, but we didn't come here to get incrementally better, we came here to win hockey games and we're not doing enough."

The winner of the best-of-5 series between the No. 6 seed Hurricanes and No. 11 seed Rangers will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.