Kreider gets #50 in 4-2 loss to Carolina

It was billed as a battle for first place and in that case, the New York Rangers came up short.  Despite taking a 1-0 lead and going into the third period tied 1-1, the Carolina Hurricanes scored two early third period goals to take what seemed like an unsurmountable lead.  Chris Kreider got his fiftieth goal when they pulled Shesterkin, but it was too little too late.  An empty net goal for the Hurricanes sealed the deal.

While this was a “yardstick” game and the Rangers lost, it was a close game and hopefully the Blueshirts learned something from it.  Before anyone bemoans the outcome and sees it as a harbinger of things to come, it’s worth looking at the Hurricanes.

People forget that most experts thought the Rangers would beat the Hurricanes in their best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifier in 2020. Forgotten was the fact that Carolina had gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals in a Cinderella season the year before when they won two playoff rounds after missing the playoffs for nine years.  They had a new coach in Rod Brind’Amour for that amazing run.

In 2020, despite the win over New York, they lost in the First Round to Boston in five games.

In 2020-21, the Hurricanes became one of the best teams in the NHL, finishing two points short of the Presidents’ Trophy.  What did they do in the playoffs?  They beat Nashville in six games in the First Round, then lost the Second Round to Tampa in five games.

It’s a cautionary tale that Ranger players and fans need to remember.  Carolina is a great team, but after winning only one playoff round in two years,  if they don’t go deep in the postseason, the criticism will get very very loud.  They are very aware of that and it showed in their push in the third period.

For Gerard Gallant, after a good first period, the game slipped away, but he did say that of the three games against Carolina this season, this was their best effort.  “Tonight was an even game. I thought the second period was the difference, they had too much time in our zone, too much puck possession, they were outbumping us in our zone, but we learned some lessons.”

The one thing the Rangers have proven all season long is that they are capable of learning lessons.  Despite the loss, this is the kind of game that they needed to play as they prepare for the playoffs.

They need to fix their power play and remember to play a full 60 minutes and it will do them a service to remember how the Hurricanes played in the third period when they needed to raise their level of play.

About the game

The Rangers came out and played an outstanding first period.  Although the period ended scoreless, the Rangers had the better chances and more offensive zone time than Carolina.  They ended up outshooting the Canes 14-7, going toe-to-toe with them for the first time this season.

The Rangers didn’t help themselves by coming up short on two power plays.  Kreider said that it was “disjointed” and it showed,  Of course, the Hurricanes penalty kill is the best in the NHL by far and it showed.

They Rangers still came close a few times but were unable to put one past Andersen.  The best news is that both teams played with playoff intensity and the Blueshirts were the better team in the period.

It carried over into the second period when K’Andre Miller scored 63 seconds into the period.

He made the play with a poke check at the Rangers blue line.  Frank Vatrano took the puck into the zone, passing to Mika Zibanejad who laid a backhand to the front of the net where Miller was as he had followed the play into the zone and he put the puck past Andersen.

There was a potential turning point when the Rangers killed off a Vatrano penalty and he got the puck when the penalty expired and he rang one off the post.  A second goal would have been very big.

The Rangers were unable to take advantage of a penalty to Brendan Smith and when Smith was not called for a cross check to Barclay Goodrow, the Hurricanes took advantage. With just 6:22 minutes left in the period, they were the beneficiaries of a lucky bounce and tied the score.  Seth Jarvis took a shot that was blocked and from behind the net, Andrei Svechnikov tried to center the puck and it deflected off Shesterkin’s skate and into the net.

The Hurricanes came out storming in the third period and it was their turn to score early, when Seth Jarvis scored just 62 seconds into the period.  The Rangers were changing and the Hurricanes caught them, sending Jarvis in on a breakaway and he beat Shesterkin.

6:42 into the period, the Hurricanes scored again, a backbreaking goal and again it was on a broken play.  Brady Skjei took a slapshot, breaking his stick, but the shot was blocked and bounced right to Jordan Staal who one timed it past Shesterkin.

From then on, it was classic play by the Hurricanes as they kept the Rangers penned in, unable to get set up in the offensive zone.  The 3-1 lead looked insurmountable and Gallant pulled Shesterkin with two minutes to go and that’s when Kreider scored to make it close.

After an icing, Ryan Strome won the offensive zone draw and in the scramble for the rebound of a Adam Fox shot from the blueline, Kreider put the puck past Andersen after he made a stop on Andrew Copp.

Although the goal roused the crowd, the Rangers were unable to beat Andersen and Sebastian Aho scored into the empty net for the 4-2 win.

Here is a video recap of the game:

Notes on the game

With the loss, the Rangers are four points behind the Hurricanes and five points ahead of the Penguins who lost in a shootout.  Washington won so they are three points behind the Pens with two games in hand.

This game was lost when the Rangers failed on four power plays, though one was abbreviated. They are slumping badly with only two power play goals on their last 16 opportunities with both goals in the same game.

The Rangers killed both penalties and they have stopped 16 straight and have not allowed a power play goal in six games.

The Rangers have pulled their goalie 12 times this season and have lost all 12 games. They have scored three goals with their goalie pulled and they have allowed four empty net goals.

Before this game, the Rangers had won 17 of their last 18 games against Carolina at Madison Square Garden going back to 2010-11.

Frederik Andersen won the showdown with Igor Shesterkin.  He moved ahead of he Rangers with a 2.07 goals against average versus 2.09 for Shesterkin. The Ranger stopped 22 of 25 shots and remains with the best save percentage in the NHL (.934).  The win was Andersen’s 35th of the year, second most and one ahead of Shesterkin.

Statistically, the two teams were very close.  They were tied with 19 hits each while the Rangers outshot Carolina 30-25.  The Hurricanes won 55.2% of the faceoffs.

If you thought Shesterkin could stickhandle, check this out from Frederik Andersen as he left the ice on a delayed penalty.<

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The teams meet one more time this season in the third from last game of the season, at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers played a video tribute to Jesper Fast and he got a nice hand from the crowd.<

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They also did a video tribute to Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith and Tony DeAngelo.  DeAngelo got booed every time he touched the puck.  It’s hard to believe that it has been over two years since the Hurricanes played at Madison Square Garden, so this was the first trip back for Skjei and Fast though they last played for New York in 2019-20.

My 3 Rangers stars

K’Andre Miller

was the best Ranger skater in this game.  He scored the first goal on an outstanding defensive individual effort and made an amazing move in a rush in the third period.

He gets better every game he plays.

The official 3 stars

1. Sebastian Aho – Hurricanes
2. Seth Jarvis – Hurricanes
3. Chris Kreider – Rangers

The playoff picture

The Penguins lost 5-4 to the Islanders in a shootout while the Capitals demolished the Flyers 9-2.  The Blues beat the Bruins while Tampa has a late game in Dallas. Here are the Met Division standings:

1. Carolina  104 points, 8 games to play
2. Rangers 100 points, 8 games to play
3. Penguins 95 points, 7 games to play
4. Washington  92 points, 9 games to play

It looks like a second place finish for the Rangers and right now both the Penguins and Capitals have a decent shot at finishing third in the Division.

What’s next

The Rangers travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers.  Both teams will be on the second of back-to-back games so no advantage there.   The game has a 7pm start time and will be televised on TNT.

The Blueshirts then have two days off with the next game a 12:30pm matinee on Saturday versus Detroit.