Henrik Weathers The Surge As Rangers Win In Carolina

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After Sunday’s 11 goal affair that saw the Blueshirts come up on the wrong side of a 6-5 decision, the Rangers paid much more attention to their defensive structure in this one. And while David Quinn won’t be too pleased that his team gave up 45 shots, the Rangers were able to rely on King Henrik to make the timely saves and allow the Blueshirts to come back and win.

Connor Brickley – The Rangers acquired the 26-year-old winger back in January, and he has played well since being recalled from Hartford last week. Brickley tallied his first point with the Rangers during Friday night’s win in Buffalo, and he recorded his first goal with the Rangers against the Hurricanes. After Carolina took a 1-0 lead, Brickley drove to the net and had the rebound of Filip Chytil’s shot deflect off of the veteran winger and behind Curtis McElhinney.

Brickley has done well on David Quinn’s fourth line since being summoned from Hartford. And with the trade deadline looming, perhaps Brickley will get a more expanded role after the expected roster purge over the next few days.

Vladislav Namestnikov – While he puts in a consistent effort every night, he hadn’t been seeing the fruits of his labor in the form of goals until Friday night. Namestnikov seems to have a little extra jump in his step since scoring those two goals in Buffalo, and this extra confidence saw him net the game-winner in the third period. Seconds after the Rangers power play expired, the Russian forward put the loose puck into the back of the net for his seventh of the season.

Namestnikov has been rumored to be on the trading block for the rebuilding Rangers. If he is in fact sent off Broadway before Monday’s deadline, it’ll be interesting to see the kind of return Jeff Gorton will be able to get for the veteran forward.

Tony DeAngelo – The biggest knock on the young defenseman was his abilities in his own zone. It seems that under David Quinn’s tutelage, however, that DeAngelo has improved night after night. His bank pass to Filip Chytil led to the first Rangers goal, but its his defensive work in this contest that I want to highlight. DeAngelo made a few good defensive plays with his stick, including diving across the zone to break up a scoring chance for Carolina. The Sewell, NJ native added five blocked shots in this one, as we seem to be seeing the defenseman maturing right before our eyes.

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Henrik Lundqvist – Just as he has done countless times throughout his illustrious career, Henrik Lundqvist made save after save to preserve a tenuous Rangers lead and send the Blueshirts to victory. Lundqvist stopped 44 of 45 Carolina shots, including 18 in the final frame.

Next Game: The Rangers will try and get their second win in a row on Thursday night when they return to MSG and face the Minnesota Wild. Puck drops at 7!

LETS GO RANGERS!!

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