Home has been sweet for Canes, Rangers

Their most dominating performance of the post-season put the Carolina Hurricanes on the brink of getting through the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and pushed the New York Rangers into yet another must-win game.

That came in a 3-1 win on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.

Now, the Hurricanes are hoping to secure their elusive first road win of the post-season while the Rangers are hoping their home-ice magic appears yet again when they shift to New York for Game 6.

The Hurricanes have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

If Carolina can finish it off, a date with the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fifth conference final appearance await. If the Rangers can continue the trend of the home team winning each game, Game 7 will be Monday night at Carolina.

Carolina is 0-5 on the road against the Rangers and their first-round opponent, Boston, and has been outscored 21-8 in those games. The Hurricanes advanced to the brink of finishing the series by turning in their finest performance of the post-season with Thursday's win.

“It was kind of the game that I've been waiting for,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'amour said. “We've been playing OK, but tonight was good all the way around — more obviously how we want to play.”

Vincent Trocheck scored a short-handed goal in the first period, and Teuvo Teravainen scored the tiebreaking goal on a power play in the second after Carolina went 0-for-9 on the man advantage in the first four games. Andrei Svechnikov also scored on a breakaway in the third.

New York won three elimination games in the first round to get past the Pittsburgh Penguins and is on a five-game home winning streak since its triple overtime loss in the playoff opener.