After shutting out the New York Rangers through two periods, the Carolina Hurricanes allowed four goals in the third period in their 4-2 loss on Friday night.
Scoring Summary
Jordan Staal opened the scoring at 17:49 of the first period. Alexander Semin set up Jordan Staal for the 2-on-1, and he sniped it top-shelf, short side to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. Alexander Semin and Ron Hainsey got the assists.
The New York Rangers struck back at 7:25 of the third period while shorthanded. Ryan McDonagh blasted a slap shot past Anton Khudobin on the rush. Rick Nash got the assist.
Jeff Skinner got taken down on the break away, and he scored on the penalty shot at 12:07 of period three. He came in and sniped it glove side on Henrik Lundqvist.
Rick Nash got a good bounce at 13:24 of period three to tie the game at 2-2. Rick Nash came out of the corner, and he looked for John Moore as he streaked to the front of the net. The puck bounced off Andrej Sekera and into the Canes goal. Derek Stepan and John Moore got the assists.
Martin St. Louis step up Derek Stepan beautifully on the 5-on-3 to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 lead at 17:14 of the third period. St. Louis had a great cross-crease pass to a wide open Stepan who finished into the open net. Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards got the assists.
The New York Rangers finished off the Carolina Hurricanes at 19:19 of the third period thanks to Carl Hagelin‘s empty net goal. Mats Zuccarello and Dan Girardi got the assists.
Game Analysis
The Carolina Hurricanes were simply outplayed for a majority of Friday night’s game. The New York Rangers wasted no time pressuring the Canes and pouncing all over them offensively.
The Carolina Hurricanes power play unit remains a huge issue. The team went 0-4 on the man advantage. That included about a minute of 5-on-3 time. They got very little to work on the power play on Friday, and that has turned into one of the biggest problems with the Canes.
Anton Khudobin was the only reason that the Carolina Hurricanes had a chance to win this game. He was incredible throughout the game, but he was a victim of bad penalties and a bad bounce in the third period.
Ron Hainsey and Brett Bellemore took delay of game penalties late in the third period, and the Rangers took advantage of that and scored the game-winning goal on the 5-on-3.
The effort has just not been there for the Carolina Hurricanes, and the same holds true against the New York Rangers. It looks like they are just going through the motions, especially on the power play. Star players are giving little effort to score on the power play, and that has ultimately been a killer for the Carolina Hurricanes this season.
Nathan Gerbe was all over the ice against the New York Rangers, like usual. Nathan Gerbe never took a shift off, and he played with way more intensity than any other Carolina Hurricanes player did.
John-Michael Liles suffered an upper-body injury against the Rangers. He did not return to the game. Kirk Muller didn’t give an update on Liles’ injury after the game, but I think it is pretty unlikely he will play against the Devils Saturday night.
Once again, the Carolina Hurricanes fail to perform well when they really need it. The Carolina Hurricanes are now 9 points behind the New York Rangers for 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division and 8 points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Both team won Friday night.
The Carolina Hurricanes continue to watch their playoff hoped vanish before their eyes, and it is getting extremely unlikely that the Canes will be able to make a run at the playoffs. It’s time for the Carolina Hurricanes to take a look around and really evaluate what is going on. This can not continue from the Carolina Hurricanes. It is unacceptable, and the front office, players, and coaches can’t act like it isn’t.
The Carolina Hurricanes will be in action Saturday night in Newark as they take on the New Jersey Devils at 7:00 pm.