Carolina Hurricanes Get Bested by Henrik Lundqvist, Fall to the New York Rangers 4-1

The Carolina Hurricanes made mistakes and failed to solve Henrik Lundqvist in 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers

Scoring Summary

1st Period

NYR Goal (14:01) – Ryan McDonagh (6), unassisted 

The Rangers started the scoring in the latter portion of period one. John-Michael Liles carried the puck out of his own end and threw it up ice directly to Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh. He had a clear lane up ice, and he ripped a wrist shot off the crossbar and past Eddie Lack to make it 1-0.

NYR Goal (17:53) – Keith Yandle (3), assisted by Oscar Lindberg (9), Kevin Hayes (14)

Noah Hanifin attempted to reset and move the puck up ice late in period one, but it didn’t work. Hayes pressure Hanifin and stole the puck. He then skated around the net and found Lindberg along the goal line. Lindberg hit Yandle, who was streaking through the middle of the ice uncovered, and he was able to beat Lack to make it 2-0.

2nd Period

CAR Goal (3:29) – Joakim Nordstrom (3), assisted Andrej Nestrasil (10)

The Hurricanes got on the board early in the 2nd period. Nestrasil got the puck along the half wall, and he dished it to Nordstrom at the top of the left circle, and he launched a one-timer into the Rangers net.

NYR Goal (9:41) – J.T. Miller (11), assisted by Jesper Fast (8), Derek Stepan (11)

New York established zone pressure in Carolina’s end, and it was capped off with a goal. The Rangers closed in on Carolina’s net, and a loose puck bounced out. Miller was there on the doorstep and he sniped it in past Lack to make it 3-1.

NYR Goal (11:51) – J.T. Miller (12), unassisted

Jaccob Slavin tried to move the puck out of his own zone, but he whiffed on a pass, and Miller was there to take it away. He then walked in all alone on Lack and made it a 4-1 hockey game.

Three Stars

1st Star – J.T. Miller, C (NYR) – 2 goals, +1, 2 shots, 6 hits, 16:11 TOI

2nd Star – Ryan McDonagh, D (NYR) – 1 goal, 4 shots, 21:40 TOI

3rd Star – Jordan Staal, C (CAR) – 69% faceoff percentage, +1, 2 hits, 18:15 TOI

Recap

The Carolina Hurricanes got blown out of the building on Friday night, and the New York Rangers comfortably picked up a 4-1 win on the road.

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The Canes set the pace early on and really gave the Rangers a run for their money for a good portion of the opening period, but the Rangers got a powerplay just over 10 minutes into the game, and that’s when everything went in New York’s direction. They dictated play with prolonged periods of offensive zone time and a lot of speed. The Canes just couldn’t keep up, and they made far too many mistakes.

It was apparent that the back-to-back got to Carolina. They looked tired, careless, and slow. The Rangers were on their toes throughout the opening 40 minutes, and they were then able to play conservatively  and comfortably in the final frame with a 4-1 lead.

Up to this point, Noah Hanifin, Brett Pesce, and Jaccob Slavin had looked very comfortable and very good on the blue line. Friday featured the first game in which they all just looked out of place.

Carolina Hurricanes

Keep in mind, all three of those guys are one season removed from being in college, and they play south of 40 games a season. The Canes are now 49 games into their season, which is ground that these guys have never walked on. They looked tired on the back end of the back-to-back, as did a vast majority of the team.

Eddie Lack was left out to dry early and often due to some big mistakes and mental lapses by the Canes in their own end. He made some big saves at points, and he was the lone reason why we aren’t talking about a 6-1 or 7-1 hockey game right now.

It was just a tough go for the Canes on Friday. They played slow and sloppy, and the Rangers came back at them with speed and precision offensively. It was a very uncharacteristic game for Carolina. They didn’t play to their system, and they made it very easy for the Rangers.

3 of New York’s 4 goals came off of turnovers. You won’t win any games in the NHL if you are constantly turning the puck over in your own end.

Henrik Lundqvist made some big saves, but it wasn’t like he was swallowing every puck and eliminating rebounds. The Canes had their great chances, but they just couldn’t capitalize.

At the end of the day, the Hurricanes were on the back end of a back-to-back with a bad travel schedule, but those kinds of things are just factors that play into the game, it doesn’t decide a game. The Canes didn’t put forth the effort necessary to win the game. New York did.

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The Carolina Hurricanes will have to really get it together quick if they want to come out with a win on Sunday when they take on the Calgary Flames on home ice.