Vincent Trocheck‘s double-overtime goal was the perfect encapsulation of the New York Rangers‘ series against the Hurricanes so far: It was scored on a Rangers power play during another failure for Carolina’s penalty kill.

“Not much else to talk about. It’s pretty evident,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said after New York’s 4-3 victory to take a 2-0 series lead on Tuesday night. “The PK’s got to kill. If our power play converts on probably one [chance], we probably win. Everyone in the room knows our special teams need to be better.”

The Rangers went 2-for-7 on the power play in Game 2, after needing only 23 seconds to score twice on two opportunities in Game 1. For the playoffs, New York has 10 goals on 25 power-play opportunities (40%). Outside of the Edmonton Oilers, no one’s been hotter with the man advantage.

It’s not just how many power-play goals the Rangers score, but when they score them.

The Rangers tied the score at 3 on a power play, as Chris Kreider converted for his third goal of the playoffs at 6:07 of the third period with Dmitry Orlov in the penalty box for tripping.

Trocheck’s double-overtime winner was scored with Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei serving a penalty for cross-checking. Trocheck has scored in five straight games to join Cecil Dillon (5 GP in 1933) for the longest postseason goal streak in Rangers history.

That call on Skjei drew criticism on social media and during the broadcast for not being as emphatic as one might expect for a penalty whistled at 6:37 of the second overtime.

Staal was asked after the game if the Rangers were going down too easy on plays to draw penalties.

“Good question,” he said, before a lengthy pause to collect his thoughts. “It’s hard for the refs to know how hard guys hit other guys. It is what it is.”

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have been completely blanked on the power play against the Rangers. They were 0-for-5 in Game 1 and in Game 2, as the Rangers penalty kill went 10-for-10 to open the series.

“We’ve got to definitely be sharper. We’ve got to get inside. We’re all on the outside. That’s not how we do it. We’ve got to get back to doing it the way we know how to,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Goaltender Igor Shesterkin has been a factor on that perfect penalty kill, stopping all 10 power-play shots that he’s faced. That included two saves on Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho in overtime, sparking more chants of “I-GOR!” from Rangers fans.

“MSG was electric tonight. It’s an unbelievable feeling every time. [I was] almost crying,” Shesterkin said of the chants.

Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said: “That’s Igor … we don’t win that game without him.”

The Hurricanes had the best penalty kill (86.4%) and second-best power play (26.9%) in the regular season. In the first round against the Islanders, the Hurricanes went 5-for-15 with the man advantage — although they did allow three power-play goals on 11 opportunities.

But in this round, they’re getting dominated.

“That part of the game is going well right now,” Trouba said. “That can change. Obviously, we’d like it to stay this way, but you don’t want to win games strictly that way.”

Game 3 is Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Willy Adames had been chatting up the Royals fans behind the Milwaukee dugout all game, the good-natured ribbing carrying on as the Brewers jumped out to a two-run lead and Kansas City battled back to take its own two-run lead to the ninth.

With two outs and a pair of runners aboard, Adames found himself standing in the on-deck circle with the game on the line.

“They told me they wanted me to hit a three-run homer,” Adames would say later, “and I was like, ‘I got you.'”

Adames proceeded to drill an 83 mph curveball from Royals closer James McArthur into the left-field bullpen, sending Milwaukee to a 6-5 win Tuesday night and leaving those Kansas City fans mock-worshipping him as he returned to the dugout.

“It was really priceless,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who had watched the called shot scene unfold. “It was really cool.”

Jared Koenig (3-1) earned the win for Milwaukee, getting Hunter Renfroe to ground out to end the seventh and then surviving a scoreless eighth. Trevor Megill breezed through the ninth to earn his third save in three tries.

Vinnie Pasquantino drove in three runs for Kansas City. Salvador Perez and Kyle Isbel also drove in runs.

“That one stings,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said, “but we’ve done that to other people as well.”

Rhys Hoskins and Joey Ortiz crushed back-to-back homers off Royals starter Seth Lugo in the second inning, but that was all the offense the Brewers could muster until the seventh, when they managed to coax another run across.

They squandered a chance to draw closer when Angel Zerpa struck out Gary Sanchez to strand a pair later in the seventh, then missed another opportunity in the eighth, when John Schreiber fanned Oliver Dunn to leave two more runners aboard.

The Brewers didn’t waste their final opportunity in the ninth.

McArthur (1-2) had retired the first two batters when William Contreras, on a full-count pitch, began the comeback with a double just inside the left-field foul line. Sanchez followed with a walk before Adames walked confidently to the plate.

“He’s carrying on with [the fans] during Gary’s at-bat, and he’s telling them — they’re Kansas City fans — he’s telling them, ‘One more ball,'” Murphy said. “Then he goes back to them and goes, ‘Here we go.'”

There it went, right into the left-field bullpen.

It wasn’t exactly on par Babe Ruth’s called shot — there’s a big difference between a regular-season game the first week of May and Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, when the Hall of Famer famously pointed toward deep center field at Wrigley Field, then homered to that exact spot to help the Yankees beat the Cubs 7-5.

Still, it was the kind of stuff certain to go down in Brewers lore.

“Oh my God, that was the coolest thing I ever done,” said Adames, who even signed some balls for those Kansas City fans. “You know, sometimes the fans will be very hard, but these guys here, they were amazing. They were having a good time. Like, all my at-bats, we were chatting, and then the last one was obviously the most fun.”

LAS VEGAS — Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb was asked Tuesday if he could imagine not having Jonathan Marchessault in the club’s locker room next season.

“No,” he said succinctly, letting that word hang in the air before fully answering the question two days after the Golden Knights were eliminated in the first round of the NHL playoffs by Dallas.

McNabb, who was sitting next to Marchessault, could’ve stopped at no. His short initial answer more than conveyed the feelings among teammates regarding a player who epitomizes what it means to be a “Golden Misfit,” the name the original Golden Knights bestowed on themselves.

Marchessault, who went from undrafted to the Conn Smythe Trophy winner last year as the playoff MVP, is one of just five players remaining from that 2017-18 team. The winger is an unrestricted free agent who just put together his finest season of 42 goals, only one shy of William Karlsson‘s team record.

“I’ve done everything I can to stay here,” Marchessault said. “I know I’m a big part of that organization. I’ve proved it along the years. I would love to stay. It’s my home. I’ve been part of the guys that we started this with. It’s the most proud thing I’ve done in my life, professionally for sure. I’m happy to be a Golden Knight. I would like to be the rest of my life, but it’s not necessarily in my control.”

Marchessault said he spoke with general manager Kelly McCrimmon earlier Tuesday and the general manager told him he would like to bring him back. McCrimmon and coach Bruce Cassidy were scheduled to meet with reporters later Tuesday.

“It depends if this is important to them or not,” Marchessault said of whether a deal gets done. “I want to be in an organization that wants me. I have a couple of years left. I don’t play it for fun. I play it because I want to win. I want to be in a place that’s going to help me win.”

Whether the 33-year-old Marchessault returns is not the only significant offseason story facing the Golden Knights.

Forward William Carrier is another “misfit” who’s an unrestricted free agent, and the Golden Knights also have to make decisions on UFAs Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio and Anthony Mantha at forward and Alec Martinez on defense.

Mantha was one of three trade-deadline acquisitions, but his future appears shaky with the Golden Knights after he was healthy scratched during part of the playoffs. Carrier, Stephenson and Martinez would represent a true turning of the page if they don’t return, given Vegas parted ways with only Reilly Smith among the regulars after last year’s Cup run.

The next few months will determine what kind of team Vegas puts on the ice next season, and the Golden Knights have never shied away from taking big swings.

They lost a 2-0 series lead to the Stars and fell in seven games, ending their chances to repeat as champions — a loss the players are still processing.

“I’ll probably take a week or so, but then I’ll start watching the playoffs again,” goaltender Adin Hill said. “It’s kind of hard seeing teams out there that we feel like we were better than if we got to our game. I’m not going to make any excuses, but I never felt like we got to where our game can be. Last year, we saw what we can do in this locker room. I think you can argue we might’ve had a better team on paper this year.”

The Golden Knights were in an even worse place two years ago when they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Coming up short fueled winning the championship a year later.

Vegas can use this early postseason exit in a similar way.

“I think it should fuel all of us,” center Jack Eichel said. “There’s only one team that’s satisfied at the end of the year. We happened to be that team last year.”