The Carolina Hurricanes went into Madison Square Garden hungry for a win after dropping their last two. Despite a comeback effort, the Hurricanes fell to the New York Rangers by the final score of 5-3.
Well, that was certainly an interesting game. Going into Madison Square Garden, you’re always weary because of the “curse”, and here we go again. This game featured many things, but overall, I found myself very frustrated throughout. Sloppy plays, the inability to capitalize on timely opportunities, too many unnecessary penalties, I could go on and on.
In the first ten minutes of the game, you felt pretty good if you were a Hurricanes fan. They were swarming the zone, playing their game, and even got an early goal from Lucas Wallmark. After Warren Foegele took an interference penalty late in the first period, the Rangers would capitalize on the power play and we would go into the first intermission tied at one.
The second period was simply not good, at all. Chris Kreider would score on a 2-on-1 the other way to give the Rangers an early lead. During a Carolina power play, Aho seemingly tied the game, it would later be taken away by a coaches challenge for offsides.
A few minutes later, Artemi Panarin would take advantage of a scramble in front of the net to extend the lead to two. By the end of the 2nd, it was 4-2 Rangers.
Early on in the third, there was some push back from Carolina. Sebastian Aho would cut the lead down to one after another scramble in front of the net. Things were back and forth from then on, with both sides generating opportunities. The back breaker came when Ryan Strome scored to make it 5-3. Carolina would get a late power play, but could not capitalize. Let’s take a look at three takeaways from Friday night.