Rangers ride Shesterkin’s heroics to 4-2 win at Carolina: key takeaways
The New York Rangers had plenty of reasons to be thankful for Igor Shesterkin on Thanksgiving Eve – 36 of them, in fact.
Shesterkin was superb at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Wednesday night, piling up brilliant save after brilliant save and getting enough offensive support from his teammates to carry the Rangers to a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The ’Canes played their typical “shoot first and ask questions later” style, outshooting the Rangers 38-18 and out-attempting them 78-46 (60-26 after the first period). Carolina had five power plays to one for the Rangers and controlled play for the majority of the game.
“They play right in your face, on top of you,” said center J.T. Miller, who returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. “It’s no surprise, they’ve done it for so long.”
But the ‘Canes didn’t have Shesterkin, who got better as the night went on to help the Rangers snap a five-game losing streak against Carolina.
The Rangers also capitalized on some coverage mistakes by Carolina. Excluding Will Cuylle’s empty-netter, the first three goals all came when New York forwards were left unchecked in good scoring position. The goals by Noah Laba in the first period, Artemi Panarin late in the second and Vincent Trocheck 45 seconds into the third were all scored on wide-open shots that beat Frederik Andersen cleanly.
The Blueshirts improved to 10-4-1 on the road and 12-11-2 overall with their second straight win. They’ll try for three in a row Friday afternoon against the Bruins in Boston in the first of back-to-back games.
The Rangers proved in the first period that stats don’t always tell the full story. Carolina had a 13-4 advantage in the opening 20 minutes, but the Rangers out-attempted them 20-18 and had a 4-0 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Blueshirts missed the net 10 times – including a shot by Adam Fox that was tipped off the crossbar by Miller.
Shesterkin was sharp, especially on Jackson Blake’s mid-period wrister from the slot that was Carolina’s best chance in the first 20 minutes. The Hurricanes hurt themselves with 11 giveaways and by going 8-13 in the face-off circle
Laba got the Rangers on the board at 16:53. Matthew Robertson flung the puck at the net and missed, but Taylor Raddysh jumped on the loose puck behind the net and found the rookie center, who was unimpeded as he moved into the right circle and beat Andersen with a wrist shot to the top corner on the Rangers’ second shot on goal.
The Blueshirts hurt themselves in the second period by giving up three power plays, the first of which resulted in the game-tying goal.
Laba was called for slashing at 4:57, and Carolina needed just seven seconds to tie the score. Sebastian Aho, playing his 700th NHL game, won the draw, and Shayne Gostisbehere took a feed from Nikolaj Ehlers and beat Shesterkin with a snap shot from the right circle at 5:04 for a 1-1 tie.
The ’Canes dominated play for the next 12 minutes, forcing Shesterkin to make a handful of terrific saves, including one on an airborne deflection by William Carrier and another on Andrei Svechnikov’s rebound try off the draw after Brett Berard was called for slashing at 11:16.
But the Rangers found their footing late in the period and went back in front on a perfectly run play off an offensive-zone draw. Trocheck won the face-off to Miller, who relayed the puck to Fox at the right point. He quickly fed Panarin in the left circle for a one-timer that beat Andersen cleanly with 1:04 left in the period for a 2-1 lead.
Panarin set up Trocheck for a rocket from the high slot 45 seconds into the third period to give the Rangers a two-goal lead. They needed it when Seth Jarvis beat Shesterkin with a perfect shot from the lower left circle at 10:53. Carolina continued to push the play and pulled Andersen with just over 2:00 to play, only to have Cuylle hit the empty net from his own blue line with 1:43 remaining – much to the delight of the sizeable Rangers contingent in the sellout crowd of 18,299.
Key takeaways after Rangers knock off Hurricanes 4-2
Shesterkin is sensational again
This was vintage Shesterkin. He was on his game from the opening face-off to the final horn. The Rangers don’t end their losing streak against Carolina without him being at the top of his game.
Not surprisingly, Shesterkin was the First Star after giving the Rangers the kind of goaltending they’ll need to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Hurricanes had 38 scoring chances in all situations to just 18 for the Rangers, according to Natural Stat Trick, including 13-9 on high-danger chances. The high-danger chances were 5-1 in the third period, when the Hurricanes carried the play and kept firing away.
With backup Jonathan Quick on IR, Shesterkin could face playing back-to-back games on Friday against Boston and Saturday at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning if coach Mike Sullivan opts not to have rookie Dylan Garand make his NHL debut.
Panarin, Trocheck step up
The Rangers haven’t been getting the offense they need from some of their big guns. But that wasn’t the case Wednesday, when the combination of Panarin and Trocheck came through.
Trocheck didn’t get an assist on Panarin’s go-ahead goal, but he started the play by winning an offensive-zone draw. The puck went to Miller, then Fox and then Panarin so fast that Andersen couldn’t track it. This looked a lot like the kind of goal Panarin scored a lot of in 2023-24, when he had a career-high 49.
“The Breadman” repaid the favor with a pass that put Trocheck alone at the top of the slot for a rip that beat Andersen cleanly. It was his fifth goal in nine games since returning from an upper-body injury.
It’s Miller time
Having their captain back was a big boost for the Rangers. Miller played 18:00, had the secondary assist on Panarin’s goal, won three of five face-offs and finished plus-1.
“Pretty good,” Miller said when asked how he felt after his first game back. “Definitely tried to keep myself out of certain situations, but I think, for the most part, I felt pretty good. Felt like I could contribute without being taken too much away from my game.”
Another power outage
One area that continues to plague the Rangers is their inability to draw power plays. They had just one against Carolina while giving the Hurricanes five opportunities; the first of three second-period advantages for the ‘Canes resulted in a goal.
It was the seventh straight game in which the Rangers had two or fewer power plays, and they’ve had as many as four just twice this season — both in October.
The Rangers are tied for 30th in the NHL with just 56 power plays in 25 games, and their average of 2.4 per game is 31st. In contrast, their 74 power plays allowed is the 12th-most in the NHL. This kind of special-teams disparity is one area where the Rangers have to improve — soon.
