It happened again. For the second straight game, the Rangers needed overtime to beat the Hurricanes. After allowing Andrei Svechnikov to tie the game with 1:36 left in regulation, there was no panic.

Instead, Artemi Panarin won the game when he redirected a pass from Vincent Trocheck past a stunned Pyotr Kochetkov at 61:43 of overtime for a 3-2 win to take Game 3. His fourth game-winning goal of the postseason moved the Rangers within a win of the Eastern Conference Finals.

They lead the best of seven series three games to none. All three victories have been decided by one goal. Combined with a 4-3 win over the Capitals back in the first round, the Rangers are a perfect 4-0 in one goal games this playoffs. They’re also 7-0. That was last achieved by a Rangers team that lifted the Stanley Cup 30 years ago.

The most impressive thing is how they respond to adversity. Despite trailing by a goal in the last two games, there’s no panic. Unlike Game 2, when they needed a Chris Kreider power-play goal to force sudden death before Vincent Trocheck’s clutch double overtime goal, this time they blew a one-goal lead late in the third period.

In full desperation mode, the Hurricanes pulled Kochetkov for a six-on-five. Trailing by a goal, they created enough chaos to get the game tied. A Brady Skjei point shot was deflected by Sebastian Aho off Igor Shesterkin for a rebound in the slot. Svechnikov picked it up and fired home his first of the series to send the Caniacs into bedlam.

As the Canes celebrated Svechnikov’s big goal, the Rangers bench delayed before the next faceoff. Coach Peter Laviolette thought the puck might’ve been tipped by a high stick. Aho also had a broken stick after his deflection that led to Svechnikov forcing overtime. It didn’t look like it was for that long. He held it in his hands rather than getting rid of it.

At the start of the game, it went as expected. There was a storm surge. The Canes came out fast. Aided by a bench minor two minutes in, they fired shots at Shesterkin, whose best save early came on Svechnikov. He was a factor throughout.

With the teams back at full strength, Alex Wennberg tripped Svechnikov, who went down. Maybe it was because of how it looked. He went for the puck and fell over. They decided that Svechnikov had a penalty for embellishment. It was a bad call. That led to four-on-four.

The Canes weren’t only outshooting the Rangers early on. They were more physical. Especially Svechnikov. He had some good hits that got the crowd into it. He finished checks on both Erik Gustafsson and Jacob Trouba. On the same shift, he pressured Gustafsson into a mistake. Svechnikov then retrieved the puck and set up a Skjei shot that Jake Guentzel tipped in at 9:46 for a 1-0 lead.

It also marked the return of Filip Chytil. Playing for the first time since Nov. 2 against the same opponent, he was a little tentative in the early going. That was expected. He absorbed hits from Tony DeAngelo and Dmitry Orlov. Chytil got better as the game went on.

For the first half of the period, the Rangers hadn’t established much. They were getting badly outplayed. The Canes led by a wide margin in shots and hits. Something needed to change. Barclay Goodrow decided to give his team a wake-up call.

Following a Kochetkov stop on Will Cuylle, Goodrow made sure to get close to the Hurricanes goalie. That drew a reaction. Orlov knocked down Goodrow. Then, Jimmy Vesey got into it with Orlov during a scrum. They each received roughing minors. Goodrow and Jesperi Kotkaniemi got unsportsmanlike conducts. There was no loss of manpower.

That sequence seemed to settle the Rangers down. They picked up their game. On a good cycle by the Canes, Guentzel high-sticked K’Andre Miller to halt their momentum.

On the power play, the top unit moved the puck well enough. But the execution was a little off. That led to some missed shots off good setups. It was a frustrating two minutes that concluded with the second unit unable to do much. For some reason, Trouba played with Gustafsson. Chytil wasn’t used. It didn’t make sense.

Late in the period, Evgeny Kuznetsov rang the crossbar. It was that close to being two goals down for the Blueshirts. Instead, they got out of the first, only down one. The Canes outshot them 17-7. They couldn’t get any separation due to Shesterkin.

Over a minute into the second period, Wennberg was taken down by Jordan Martinook. That gave the Rangers a power play. Unable to get anything going, they had it cut short due to Panarin taking a hooking minor on Jaccob Slavin.

After a brief four-on-four, Goodrow tested Kochetkov shorthanded. Then, Seth Jarvis and Svechnikov each were stopped by Shesterkin. Neither came with any traffic. Something Henrik Lundqvist noted during the first intermission on TNT. If he sees the shots, Shesterkin’s stopping it.

Following the Hurricanes power play, Trocheck skated into Skjei behind the net and went down. Interference was called on Skjei. Once again, the Rangers didn’t get the chances needed to break through. Carolina was better on the penalty kill. They killed off all four Rangers power plays in the game.

Back at even strength, the new third line spent enough time in the offensive zone to create an opportunity for Braden Schneider. He made a good read to get open for a shot that Kochetkov handled. In his first start of the series, he played well, making 22 saves. That included a couple of critical poke checks to deny a pair of dangerous chances.

With Carolina still up by a goal, Adam Fox was called for a soft tripping minor on Guentzel, who sold it. There were a few tacky calls in the game. Paul Bissonnette complained about it following the second period.

On the first part of the power play, the Canes had a few shots. But none seriously threatened Shesterkin, who continued to turn away Aho and Svechnikov.

A Kreider hit sent Aho down inside the Rangers blue line. Then, Brent Burns turned over the puck to Mika Zibanejad. He turned it into a two-on-one rush. With the Canes scrambling back, they paid closer attention to Zibanejad. That allowed him to slide the puck over for a neat Kreider tip-in for a shorthanded goal that tied the game with 11:30 left.

It was an outstanding play by Zibanejad. He has been brilliant in this series. It isn’t only about goals and assists. But also about his defense. He’s been very good on the backcheck, breaking up plays defensively. It’s that attention to detail that helps the Rangers be successful. Exactly what they’ve needed from Zibanejad.

Kreider’s second shorthanded goal of the playoffs really took the steam out of the Hurricanes’ power play. They lost their confidence. On the same five-on-four, a turnover at center ice allowed Trocheck a clean breakaway. But as he made his move on Kochetkov, he lost control of the puck. Kochetkov easily turned it away.

On a shift at five-on-five, Jack Roslovic was sent off for a hook on Martinook. It was another soft call. During the game, the Canes were getting away with holding and taking guys down. That they don’t call.

Svechnikov was their most dangerous player. He was set up in the slot for a one-timer that went wide. He then had another long shot stopped by Shesterkin.

Again, some sloppy play from the Canes led to Zibanejad and Kreider coming in the opposite direction. They nearly hooked up for another shorthanded goal. But Kreider hit the crossbar on a Zibanejad pass.

When he returned, Roslovic got a shot right on Kochetkov. He also had another go wide.

On a Kuznetsov faceoff win, Tony DeAngelo was stopped by Shesterkin from long distance. He continued to make the saves. In the second, he stopped all 20 shots. Despite that, none were high quality. The Canes led in shots 37-18 after two periods but were tied.

The third period was less wide open. Shots were hard to come by. With it more defensive minded, that worked in the Rangers’ favor.

Following a Trocheck faceoff win in the neutral zone, he took the hit to make a play. That allowed Panarin to gain the Canes’ zone and make a perfect backhand feed across for a Lafreniere one-timer past Kochetkov to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 13:35 remaining.

The goal was Lafreniere’s third of the series. He’s really been a consistent force against the Canes.

Trailing for the first time, the Canes tried to come back right away. But Shesterkin made a save on Jarvis.

Trouba had a hit on DeAngelo, which he didn’t like. He responded with a slash that sent him to the box. Rather than make him pay, the Rangers didn’t. They fired blanks.

Guentzel got good position on Schneider that forced him to knock him down in front. He went off for cross-checking. The Rangers gave the Canes nothing, easily killing the penalty off.

On a great individual effort, Chytil got around the Carolina defense for a great chance. But an aggressive Kochetkov came out to stop him with a poke check. That prevented a goal.

Over the next few minutes, the Canes were having trouble generating anything. The Rangers defended well by clogging up the neutral zone and keeping their opponent outside. Kuznetsov got the only good chance when his high shot went off Shesterkin’s mask.

It really looked like the Rangers would wrap it up. But with Kochetkov on the bench for an extra attacker, Aho deflected Skjei’s shot off Shesterkin. The puck took a weird bounce coming right to Svechnikov, who didn’t miss. His clutch goal sent the game to overtime.

In it, the Rangers ended the game quickly. Following a wide shot, Lafreniere got the puck back and waited for his line to come on. He got the puck to Trocheck in the corner. He then came out and made a touch pass in front that Panarin redirected between his legs past a shocked Kochetkov for the clutch overtime winner at 1:41 of overtime.

That led to another celebration by the glass. They’re now one win away from reaching the Conference Finals for the second time in three years. They’ll look to end the suspense tomorrow night.