McDonagh, Talbot Lead Rangers Past Hurricanes.
FINAL SCORE: New York Rangers – 1 Carolina Hurricanes – 0
FIRST PERIOD: The Rangers looked to come out flying to start the second part of this home and help extend their win streak to six games. Luckily they managed to do just that, they came out and dominated the first period from start to finish against a significantly weaker Hurricanes squad. Just five minutes into the period Mats Zuccarello passed the puck to Derek Stepan who fed Captain Ryan McDonagh in front of the net who put in his second goal of the season to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. From that point on the good guys had all of the momentum but couldn’t solve Anton Khudobin, who stood tall to 10 of the Rangers 11 shots in the first period. Derick Brassard took a penalty about halfway through the period but the team managed to kill it off, the Rangers have killed off 15 of the last 16 penalties they’ve taken. The Rangers dominated straight through until the end of the period and ended the period up 1-0, and up 11-4 in shots.
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SECOND PERIOD: The New York Rangers came into the second period hoping to keep the play rolling against Khudobin against the Hurricanes, for the beginning of the period they did manage to do. Just before the halfway mark of the period Matt Hunwick scored his first goal of the season (for the second game in a row) and it was waived off incorrectly by the officials (for the second game in a row). A later replay showed that the puck did actually cross the goal line but was pulled out by Khudobin. The Hurricanes had some good chances in the period but Cam Talbot was there to answer the call, likely trying to prove early that his new 1 year, 1.45 Million dollar contract is worth it. Justin Faulk took a penalty for the Hurricanes and the Rangers power play was awful (again), why won’t head coach Alain Vigneault try and put Kevin Klein on the power play? The players in the room think he should get a shot and even if it doesn’t work out it’s not like he could make the power play any worse. The Rangers had a second power play opportunity and they didn’t convert on that either, the period came to an end and the Rangers were still up 1-0 but were up 24-14 in shots.
THIRD PERIOD: The Rangers just needed to come into this period and hold on to the lead until the end of the period. However this period was dominated heavily by the Hurricanes which made the task at hand a difficult one, the shots weren’t Carolina favored, but they spent a lot more time in the Rangers zone than in the two periods before it. Cam Talbot stood to the task when he needed to and the game seemed to wind down with a strange feeling at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers desperately clung to a 1-0 lead. The Rangers got a power play chance with four minutes left to play in the game that they (once again) did not convert on. The game wound down with of course the usual drama but Talbot pulled it out for his third shutout of the season. The Rangers win their sixth straight game and head into a huge game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
THREE STARS:
1) Cam Talbot – 18 save shutout
2) Anton Khudobin – 30 saves on 31 shots
3) Ryan McDonagh – 1 goal, game winner.