Henrik Lundqvist steals a 4-2 win in Carolina

Notes on the game

• Lundqvist built on an already impressive record in the second game of back-to-back starts.  He has a 54-23-8 record,  a 2.12 Goals Against Average, a .928 Save Percentage and has posted nine shutouts.
• The 22 saves for Lundqvist in the first period was the second most he has had in one period, one behind the 23 saves he posted against Dallas in 2013.
• Coach David Quinn called it the best game he’s seen Lundqvist play since he became coach and said he had no qualms about playing him in back to back starts.  “I want him to get into a rhythm.  Our schedule has been a little bit quirky and he hasn’t had a chance to get into a rhythm.  I was very confident and comfortable playing him tonight.”
• Brady Skjei and Micheal Haley were the healthy scratches, in favor of Ryan Lindgren and Lias Andersson.
• Quinn was very happy with the work of the duo of Adam Fox and Lindgren, “They did a really good job, I thought that was our best pair all night They answered the bell in a lot of ways, they defended well, they got us out of our end…there was a lot to like about those guys.”
• Although on their heels all night, the entire defensive corps did a very nice job withstanding the onslaught.  Jacob Trouba led all players with 23:55 followed by Libor Hajek (20:54) and Adam Fox (20:39).
• The Rangers were outplayed in every category except goals and saves. They were outshot 47-19. They were outhit 26-18. The Hurricanes won 61% of the 51 faceoffs.
• Brett Howden was 6-7 on draws and Lias Anderson won three of six.  Ryan Strome had a very bad night winning only seven of 21 draws and Chytil won one of five.
• Kaapo Kakko was held off the scoresheet, but led the team with four shots on goal.  Kakko played a very solid game and is becoming more confident the more he plays.  He was excellent defensively and drew the penalty that led to the game winning goal.
• With the win the Rangers are now above .500 again at 7-6-1.  They are four points behind the Hurricanes with two games in hand. Oh, that Ottawa game!
•  The last time the Rangers have won four of five games was last January. They’ve also done without Mika Zibanejad, their best player.
• Artemi Panarin now has a seven game point scoring streak with four goals and six assists in that span. He now has eight goals and 16 points on the season.  Ryan Strome added an assist and has scored in eight of his last nine games (five goals and seven assists).
• This was the fourth time the Rangers have given up 40 shots or more. They have won two of those games.  Lundqvist has started all four of those games.