Despite Wining in the Face Off and Shots Categories, the Carolina Hurricanes Fall 0-3 to the New York Rangers
The Carolina Hurricanes traveled to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and were defeated by the New York Rangers. The Canes out shot their opponents 33 to 23 in a futile effort as they were outscored 3-0 on the night.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
NYR Goal (9:21); Jesper Fast (3) – assisted by Emerson Etem (2), Keith Yandle (8)
The Rangers kicked off the games scoring in the first period with a Jesper Fast goal, his second straight game with the first tally. With 10:39 left in the period Michal Jordan fell in front of the net leaving Fast wide open, Etem found him from behind the goal line and Fast beat Ward with the shot.
NYR Goal (9:32); Rick Nash (2) – assisted by Mats Zuccarello (5), Dan Girardi (4)
11 seconds later Rick Nash slid the puck past Cam Ward to make the game 2-0 for the New York Rangers. The play started with a Hurricanes face off win. Mats Zuccarello forced a turnover in the neutral zone and after entering the zone he found Rick Nash, to Cam Ward’s right side. Cam played aggressively and went for the poke check and missed, Nash was able to transition the puck from his forehand to his backhand and slide the puck in the net.
2nd Period
None
3rd Period
NYR Goal (0:13); Ryan Mcdonagh (1) – assisted by Rick Nash (6)
Just 13 seconds into the 3rd period Ryan Mcdonagh got the games final goal off of a shot that caromed off of Ron Hainsey’s skate. This was the second bad break for the Hurricanes that directly led to a goal.
Recap
The Carolina Hurricanes fell looked good and lead in shots and face off wins despite losing to the New York Rangers. From this game there are two of the most frustrating but stereotypical Carolina Hurricanes stats. The Hurricanes were 0-6 on the power play, and after the first period they out shot the Rangers 8-3 but were losing 2-0.
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The Hurricanes are playing good hockey, and the games are respectable to watch under Bill Peters. It’s something as a fan that is nice, every games feels within reach. Out shooting the Rangers and winning 64% of the face offs show that this team can compete better with top end competition, which could not be said in years past.
This team still has a very young feel to its game. This isn’t a bad thing, the pieces are there, they just tend to make big mistakes that lead to goals and are susceptible to momentum swings. The Hurricanes had a mistake with Jordan falling that led to the first goal of the game. After that goal they didn’t settle down and immediately gave up a second. These plays are just growing pains for a young roster.
Carolina Hurricanes
One of the brightest spots in this game was the play of Kris Versteeg. In the first period Versteeg picked up the puck in the Hurricanes zone and skated through the entire Rangers team and drew a hooking penalty and earned Carolina’s first power play of the game. Every time he was on the puck his possessions seemed to lead to scoring chances, and in the first power play he created two opportunities.
Another good thing to see from the Carolina Hurricanes is to see Jordan Staal regain his confidence. Coming into this game he had 5 points in 6 games including the OT game winner in Ottawa. When he is playing confidently he adds a strong physical presence as well as a dangerous scoring threat that is hard for teams to defend against. Though he didn’t score against the Rangers, he still played a strong game.
With the Carolina Hurricanes strong play this game could have had a drastically different outcome if they had not played against Henrik Lunqvist. It would be impossible to talk about this game and not talk about his play. Lundqvist has the ability to not just make great saves, but make them look easy. He faced 9 more shots than Cam Ward and stopped all of them with relative ease.
The save that summed this game up best came in the 3rd period. He stopped a 2 on 1 and a great scoring opportunity from the Hurricanes. What made this save so great wasn’t the fact that it was a 2 on 1, it was that he was never out of position and when he saw the pass to the open man, he slid over with ease and made a routine glove save. Not once did he look out of position or like he was worried a goal could even be scored on this play.
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This was a well played game for the Carolina Hurricanes despite falling 0-3. If the opposing goalie wasn’t putting on a clinic, maybe this game could have gone the other way. With the type of strategy and values that Bill Peters has instilled in this team, they will be winning games, Tuesday just wasn’t their night.