It was Carolina's first power-play goal in 17 attempts in the series and gave Carolina the lead for good on a night in which the Hurricanes blew a two-goal lead.

But whatever. The Hurricanes survived and fought another day in the NHL playoffs.

The Rangers will get another chance to close things out with a 3-1 lead on Monday night when the series returns to Madison Square Garden for Game 5.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen and Sebastian Aho each scored a goal for Carolina, which led 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, while a strong start provided some early momentum. Frederik Andersen finished the game with 22 saves as Carolina tries to become the fifth team to win a playoff series after a 3-0 deficit and the first since 2014.

Will Cuylle, Barclay Goodrow and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, while Shesterkin finished with 27 saves.

New York had won its first seven playoff games after defeating Washington in Round 1 and won the first three of that series, and had a chance to become the first team to go 8-0 in a postseason since Edmonton won its first nine Games won in this series led to winning the Stanley Cup in 1985.

Lafreniere put the Rangers within reach when he took advantage of a mistake by Andersen, who let his left skate hang over the post while Lafreniere cut in on the right side. As he skated toward the boards, Lafreniere bounced a puck off Andersen's left hip and then into the net, making it a 3-3 tie at 2:04 of the third period.

The series began with the potential for intense drama, considering that the Rangers, who won the Metropolitan Division, also won the Presidents' Trophy as the league's top regular-season team, while the Hurricanes – who were in the playoffs for the sixth straight season – came into the game three points behind. According to Bet MGM Sportsbook, he is the favorite to win the Stanley Cup in the NHL playoffs.

The final results were close: The Rangers won both Games 1 and 2 4-3 – the latter in double overtime – and then won Game 3 in Raleigh 3-2 on Artemi Panarin's OT score. But the Rangers had won the special teams battle in a landslide, outscoring the Hurricanes 5-0 on four power-play goals and a short-handed score, while No. 2 Carolina entered Saturday's game 0 for 15 minutes on the regular-season power play the series.

Carolina came up empty on their first power play, but Skjei's goal finally gave the Hurricanes a much-needed breakthrough.