The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Rangers by a score of 4-0. Fueled by a 22-save shutout from Freddie Andersen and a three-point night from Andrei Svechnikov, the Hurricanes withstood a huge second-period push from the Rangers and got the win.
1st Period
You always want to start the game on time on the road and the Canes did just that. Just 56 ticks into the matchup in Manhattan, Svechnikov took a slick feed from newly acquired Taylor Hall, completed a toe drag move and fired a wrister past Igor Shesterkin for the game’s first goal. This marks Hall’s first point as a Hurricane.
Later in the period, the Rangers went on the powerplay and Andersen made an incredible save on Alexis Lafrenière who was in tight on a rebound chance after an initial backhand shot from Vincent Trocheck. Your goaltender must be your best penalty killer and Andersen made three saves in those two minutes against a hot Ranger powerplay.
2nd Period
Despite getting outshot 10-9 in the second period, the Rangers controlled much of the play in the middle frame. About halfway through the period, Seth Jarvis was sent to the box after committing an interference penalty on Will Borgen. He likely could have been charged with a high-sticking penalty as his stick clipped K’Andre Miller on his way down to the ice but was uncalled. On the ensuing Ranger powerplay, Andersen came up big once again. Trocheck fired a seam pass to Chris Kreider who was lingering on the goal line. Kreider tried to stuff it home, but the puck rolled on him ever so slightly and that allowed Andersen to make a miraculous toe save and keep the shutout bid rolling. Just moments later, Svechnikov made a great play backchecking on Will Cuylle to save a goal as well.
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Enter Mikko Rantanen.
Trocheck carried the puck into the Hurricanes zone on a shorthanded opportunity but his drop pass was deflected by Shane Gostisbehere. Just as the penalty to Ryan Lindgren expired, Jackson Blake found a streaking Rantanen who then slid it over with a great pass to Svechnikov who scored his easiest goal of the season with a backhand shot into the empty net. Shesterkin had fully committed to a Rantanen shot and left the net vacated as he wasn’t expecting the pass. This marks Rantanen’s first point as a Hurricane since being acquired in one of the biggest trades in franchise history last week.
3rd Period
The Hurricanes picked up right where they left off in the second period with Sebastian Aho scoring just 1:04 into the final period. During a partial change, Hall tried to find a streaking Aho for a deflection in front of the net but just missed. However, a weak turnover from the Rangers’ defense fell right to Aho who wired it past Shesterkin to make it 3-0 Canes and quell any sort of Ranger momentum.
Just under 90 seconds later, the Rangers’ defense got puck-focused during a shift from the Jordans and Seth Jarvis. Jarvis, who was camped out in the slot for what felt like an eternity, took a feed from Martinook and fired it over the glove of Shesterkin to give the Canes an insurmountable four-goal lead.
The Hurricanes clamped it down and after another amazing save by Andersen on a Zibanejad breakaway, Carolina came away with their 31st victory of the season.
What’s Next?
After securing three out of four points on their NYC road trip, the Hurricanes return home to take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night inside the Lenovo Center. The Rangers will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon when they make the short trip to Boston to battle with the Bruins.
