His natural hat trick in the third period gave the Blueshirts an improbable Game 6 win at Carolina to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

Chris Kreider, a healthy scratch for the first time since John Tortorella’s reign behind the bench ended following 2012-13, is no victim.

The saving grace – if one can call goalkeeping that – is that Igor Shesterkin has found his game and Jonathan Quick remains a decent enough Robin to Comrade Batman. As for the club's best forward, Breadman Panarin has gone stale.