Carolina Hurricanes: Three Takeaways Against the New York Rangers

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.

Big Night From Lucas Wallmark

With all of things we could look at from this game from a negative standpoint, there was a least a few positives to come out of this one. One of those, of course, being the amazing game that Lucas Wallmark had tonight for the Hurricanes. With his performance tonight, he has pushed his point streak to five consecutive games.

When Wallmark came into the mix last year in a much bigger role, many people weren’t expecting much from the young center. Luckily for us, he’s fit right in. As of now, he has seven goals and ten assists in his 37 games. While we don’t expect him to light up the scoreboard and produce a ton of points, there’s a lot he does on the ice that contributes a lot.

As I stated in the recap, Wallmark got the scoring started early in the first period. At the time, the game was in Carolina’s favor as they came out playing really fast. In the second period, he would have a 2-on-1 with Brett Pesce. He would set up Pesce for a very timely goal that gave Carolina a chance going into the third period.

While the spotlight is typically on the big guys from the Hurricanes such as Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, it’s nice to see some depth guys step up and produce. Wallmark has come a long way, and his development continues to show as he keeps getting better. Let’s hope he can keep his streak alive tomorrow against Washington.

Rangers’ Best Players Shine

When you look at where the Rangers are in the standings, each game against teams in their own division that are above them is truly like a playoff game. In those most important games, you need your big guys to come through for you, and for New York, that certainly happened tonight. I mentioned in one of my keys to victory that shutting down their top players is huge, and tonights game proved exactly why.

Arguably their best player, Artemi Panarin had a big night. He scored his lone goal in the second period after a scramble in front of the net. He had a secondary assist that extended their lead to 4-1 late in the second and then would have a primary assist in the third on the back breaking goal scored by Ryan Strome.

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Mika Zibanejad had a huge night as well. He would tie the game late in the first period on the power play that really set up the huge second period that the Rangers had. He would tally a primary assist on the Kreider goal that was scored in the second, and would add another goal late that extended their lead.

When you’re already fighting for your playoff lives, you need your big guys. While Carolina had Aho to help provide some push back, the Rangers weren’t going to let that game slip from their hands. Their top players put the team on their backs and carried them to victory The concerning trend within the Metropolitan division continues for the Hurricanes. Onto the next one.

Next Up: vs Washington on December 28th