New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, right, defends against Carolina Hurricanes center Steven Lorentz (78) during the second period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series, Sunday, May 22, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

NEW YORK (AP) — After two tough losses on the road put them in another series deficit, the New York Rangers again bounced back with a big home win.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, Igor Shesterkin stopped 43 shots, and the Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 Sunday in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series.

“It was a tight battle again,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “Igor was outstanding for us, and that was they key. … We defended pretty good and guys did the right thing with the puck.”

Chris Kreider and Tyler Motte also scored as the Rangers cut their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven matchup. Game 4 is Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

“It’s a terrific environment … so much energy throughout the entire game,” Kreider said. “It’s easy to feed off the energy the crowd brings.”

It was just New York’s second win against Carolina in the teams’ last 10 meetings, dating to the qualifying round of the 2020 playoffs in the bubble in Toronto. The Hurricanes swept that best-of-five series in three games and won three of four in the regular season.

The Rangers, who came back from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round against Pittsburgh, improved to 4-1 at home. They got a much-needed win against the Hurricanes after losing 2-1 in OT in Game 1 and 2-0 in Game 2.

“I liked the way we battled in those two games in Carolina,” Gallant said. “We felt like we were going to win the hockey game. Our goalie was outstanding in the first half of the game and made some big key saves for us. I thought we played well enough to win.”

Nino Niederreiter scored for Carolina, and Antti Raanta finished with 30 saves. The Hurricanes, 6-0 at home, dropped to 0-4 on the road this postseason.

“We definitely had our opportunities to win,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It felt good the way we were going. We couldn’t get pucks through the net.”

The Hurricanes were 0 for 3 on the power play, falling to 0 for 7 in this series. The Rangers were 1 for 2 and are now 1 for 7.

“We have to find a way just to bear down when we have the chances,” Niederreiter said. “Our penalty-kill is, for the most part, terrific. The power play, we just can’t seem to find a way to get a goal.”

Shesterkin had 17 saves in the first period, 17 in the second and nine in the third.

“They were really just trying to shoot from everywhere, feel out the game,” Shesterkin said through an interpreter. “But none of those shots were really that dangerous.”

The Rangers had a 2-on-1 breakaway 5 1/2 minutes into the third period, but Ryan Reaves’ shot from the right side was stopped by Raanta. Motte, who started raising his arms in anticipation of a goal, couldn’t corral the rebound.

Raanta then made a stellar save to deny Kaapo Kakko’s attempt from the right side three minutes later to keep it a one-goal game.

The Hurricanes pulled Raanta for an extra skater with 2 1/2 minutes to go. Less than 30 seconds later, Kreider missed a chance at the empty net, but Motte sealed it with a backhander from the defensive zone with 1:23 remaining.

Kreider pushed the Rangers’ lead to 2-0 as he got the puck from Zibanejad behind the Hurricanes’ net, brought it around to Raanta’s right, and fired a shot past the goalie top shelf from the left circle at 5:55 of the second. It was Kreider’s sixth of the postseason.

Niederreiter got the Hurricanes on the scoreboard 8:18 into the second as he brought the puck up the right side and put a backhander past Shesterkin for his fourth of the playoffs. It was a harmless-looking shot that got past the goalie.

“You miss a goal, you get a little disappointed for a second, you say a few mean words and you forget about it,” said Shesterkin, who improved to 7-1 this year when facing 40 or more shots, including 3-1 in the postseason. His lone loss in such games was Game 1 of the first round against Pittsburgh, when he faced 83 shots in a 4-3 loss in triple overtime.

Zibanejad opened the scoring with the Rangers’ first power-play goal of the series. He got a pass from Artemi Panarin and fired a shot from the left circle past Raanta with 8:06 left in the first for his fourth of the postseason. It was New York’s first goal since early in the first period of Game 1.

Lightning 5, Panthers 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored two goals and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 to move to the brink of another trip to the Eastern Conference final on Sunday.

Corey Perry and Erik Cernak also scored, and reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy had 34 saves to help the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Panthers, who had the NHL’s best record during the regular season.

Game 4 is Monday night at Amalie Arena, where the Lightning have won three of four games this postseason. One more victory will send them to the Eastern Conference final for the sixth time in eight years.

Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s lone goal. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 34 shots.

Oilers 4, Flames 1

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Evander Kane had three goals in a six-minute span in the second period, Leon Draisaitl set an NHL record with four assists in one playoff period and Edmonton defeated Calgary to take a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Zach Hyman had the other goal for Edmonton and Connor McDavid had three more assists. Mike Smith, who was briefly replaced by Mikko Koskinen in the third period after getting run over by Milan Lucic, made 31 saves. Koskinen wasn’t forced to make a stop in just over four minutes.

Oliver Kylington scored the lone goal for Calgary. Jacob Markstrom allowed four goals on 34 shots before getting pulled for the Flames, who have been outscored 8-1 since taking a 3-1 lead in the second period of Game 2. Dan Vladar made seven saves in relief.

McDavid has 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) through 10 postseason games. The only players in NHL playoff history with more points in the same span are Wayne Gretzky (29 in 1983; 25 in 1985), Mario Lemieux (25 in 1992) and Rick Middleton (23 in 1983).