The New York Rangers lose 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers were looking to tie the Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division, but they came up short. Here is how the game went down.
The Rangers had the edge in the first period with two power play (PP) chances and 14 shots on goal (SOG). It was quite a battle. The Rangers were second on their PP entering the game and the Hurricanes were first on the penalty kill. Hurricanes proved their penalty kill well since the Rangers went 0/2 on the PP, although their second PP was much better.
The Hurricanes outhit the Rangers 11-3 and the Rangers also allowed seven giveaways (GA). They each blocked three shots, while the Hurricanes had the slight edge in takeaways (TA) at 5-4.
After a great defensively play by K’Andre Miller (7), he makes it a 1-0 game for the Rangers at 1:03 into the second period. Frank Vatrano (13) entered the zone with the puck after Miller’s excellent defense and passed it to Mika Zibanejad (48). Zibanejad held onto the puck and then made a fantastic backhand pass to find an open Miller, scoring on a snap shot.
Andrei Svechnikov (29) tied it up on a backhand shot. The original shot was stopped by Igor Shesterkin, but then Svechnikov got the puck along the boards, shot it towards Shesterkin and scored. The puck went off of Shesterkin’s skate since he didn’t get back in position in time to try to stop the shot. Seth Jarvis (19) and Sebastian Aho (40) got the assists.
The Hurricanes had more sustained pressure in the Rangers zone and had more SOG,9-7. The Rangers allowed another nine GA, but had more hits this period. Will the Rangers up their play a bit in the third to try to get more offense? Not quite.
Carolina has +39 goal differential in the third period, which is the best in the league, while the Rangers are third. It was easy to see why Carolina is one the best teams in the league right now.
Image Courtesy of Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images
The Hurricanes took their first lead of the game at 1:02 in the third on a backhand shot by Jarvis (14). It was a beauty as Aho (41) made a great pass to Jarvis, who made a quick move to score. Brady Skjei (23) also got an assist.
Jordan Staal (14) added to their lead on a wrist shot. Skjei’s (24) shot was blocked and he ended up breaking his stick, but Staal scored on the rebound. Jesper Fast (18) also assisted on the play.
The Rangers took Shesterkin out for an extra skater and Chris Kreider scored his 50th goal at 18:22. Kreider became the fourth player in Rangers history to score at least 50 goals in a season. Andrew Copp (30) and Adam Fox (58) got the assists.
Aho (34) got an empty netter to make it a 4-2 final as the Hurricanes won. This was only the second time in 20 games at Madison Square Garden that they won. Svechnikov (37) and Teuvo Teravainen (40) got the assists.
The Rangers will be playing Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers. The only thing the Flyers can do is go out with some wins since they are officially eliminated from playoff contention. They can also play spoiler to the teams still trying to get a spot or for those already in looking for a better playoff position.
The Rangers have played the Flyers three times this season and have taken two of these games. The last game was April 3rd and the Flyers got the better of them with a 4-3 final.
Will the Rangers win this battle against their division rivals? Or will the Flyers do their best to play spoiler and even the season series? The game is on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET so don’t miss it.
Featured Image Courtesy of Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images
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