Rangers waste another Igor Shesterkin gem in 3-1 home loss to Hurricanes
Igor Shesterkin was brilliant again, but even another superb performance by the New York Rangers No. 1 goalie wasn’t enough to keep the Carolina Hurricanes from leaving Madison Square Garden with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Rangers started fast – Jimmy Vesey scored 17 seconds into the game, and they had a couple of other good chances against Pyotr Kochetkov in the next couple of minutes. But Carolina’s shoot-first, push-the-pace style slowly began to dominate play. The Hurricanes allowed just one more shot on goal in the opening period after New York had four in the first 2:08, and the puck spent most of the rest of the first 40 minutes in the Rangers zone.
Shesterkin made 28 saves and was fabulous again, just as he was Friday night in New York’s 3-1 road win against the Dallas Stars. But the Rangers looked like a tired team as the game went on, and the Hurricanes finally got a couple of pucks past him in the second period to take the lead on goals scored by William Carrier and ex-Ranger Jack Roslovic.
The Rangers had some terrific chances early in the third period, but Kochetkov was up to the challenge before Sebastian Aho’s empty-netter put the game away, and the Hurricanes ended an 0-4-1 slide on the road.
The loss was the 12th in their past 16 games (4-12-0) for the Rangers (16-16-1) and dropped them 10 points behind the third-place Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers are 11th in the Eastern Conference and remained five points behind the Ottawa Senators, who hold the second wild card, ahead of a Monday afternoon road game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center.
“We just weren’t able to execute the plan that we wanted to in the second [period],” defenseman Braden Schneider said postgame. “They’re a team that they come in waves. You got to expect that. We weren’t able to break that up and get back to our game. I thought they kept kind of going downhill when we needed to get a stop in our end or just keep playing simple in their end. I think that was the thing is they brought their push and we weren’t able to respond with anything back.”
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Carolina Hurricanes 3, New York Rangers 1
The Rangers started their fourth line in a quest for energy and wasted no time grabbing a 1-0 lead 17 seconds after puck drop, courtesy of two players who’ve spent much of the season in the press box.
Vesey, who was in the lineup because after taking an elbowing major in the 3-1 road win against the Dallas Stars on Friday, started the play by carrying the puck down the left side into Carolina’s zone. He made a cross-ice feed to defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, playing his fifth game of the season, then beat defenseman Dmitry Orlov to the front of the net and deflected Ruhwedel’s return pass behind Kochetkov.
It was the fastest goal from the start of a game by the Rangers since Dec. 14, 2019, when Mika Zibanejad scored 10 seconds after the opening face-off in a 4-3 shootout loss at the Anaheim Ducks.
The Rangers dominated play for the next few minutes before the Hurricanes’ up-tempo, physical style began to catch up with them. Carolina had plenty of zone time but managed just six shots in the period; Shesterkin made his best stops against Seth Jarvis on a 2-on-1 break just after the eight-minute mark and by getting his pad down to foil Jackson Blake during a scramble two minutes later.
But the Hurricanes kept pushing the tempo, and the dam finally burst midway through the second period.
Carrier tied the game at 9:14, nine seconds after a delay of game penalty to Brett Berard expired. Jaccob Slavin’s shot from the slot hit Shesterkin and then the post; Carrier drove to the net and knocked in the loose puck.
Alexis Lafreniere was given a double minor at 10:34 for high-sticking Roslovic, who went off for repairs as the four-minute power play began. But he was back for the last few seconds and exacted some revenge when he outmuscled Ruhwedel while going to the net and tipped Orlov’s pass from the left boards past Shesterkin at 14:32 for a 2-1 lead. It ended a streak of 20 straight penalty kills by the Rangers.
“I thought they were better than us in the second period,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were better than us, and we found ourselves in the (penalty) box too much and they were able to capitalize.”
The Hurricanes continued to own the puck for shift after shift, putting the Rangers on their heels and making Shesterkin work to keep his team in the game. He kept the score 2-1 with 50 seconds left when he robbed Aho, who was alone at the left post. Aho shook his head as the video board replayed the save.
Carolina finished the second period with a 22-13 total edge in shots on goal; more indicative of the play was that the Hurricanes had 56 shot attempts through two periods to 27 for the Rangers.
“Our start was good,” Zibanejad said after the game. “In the second period, we gave them too much time and space. We spent way too much time in our defensive zone, and they took advantage.”
The Rangers finally began to generate some pressure early in the third period.
Vesey nearly tied the game but was foiled by Kochetkov’s catching glove. Kochetkov preserved the lead again soon after when he went right to left to deny Victor Trocheck, who appeared to have a wide-open net, and did it again to take what looked like a sure goal away from Reilly Smith early in the Rangers’ third power play.
“The power play scores a goal, maybe it’s a different game,” Laviolette said.
Shesterkin saved the day again 7:45 into the third period when he robbed Martin Necas on a 2-on-0 break, but the Rangers couldn’t get another puck past Kochetkov. Aho put the exclamation point on Carolina’s win by hitting the empty net with 1:42 remaining, leaving New York without consecutive victories since they won three in a row from Nov. 14-19.
The loss leaves the Rangers with the real possibility of being below .500 at the Christmas break. The Devils lead the Eastern Conference with 47 points (although everyone else in the East has games in hand on them) and have won four of their past five – allowing just three goals in the four wins. They trounced the Rangers 5-1 at MSG on Dec. 2 in the first game between the local rivals.
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