Raleigh Robbery: Igor, Rangers stun first-place Canes

If the New York Rangers were looking for an identity, they may have found one in the unlikeliest of places: the building of the conference’s top team, while sitting in last place themselves.

This was a game they couldn’t afford to let slip, not after getting blanked by these same Carolina Hurricanes earlier this season and certainly not with the Metro standings compressing like an overstuffed suitcase. Yet, despite being outshot, outskated, and out-everything’d for long stretches, the Blueshirts walked out of Raleigh with something much more valuable than two points and a 4-2 win. A reminder that they do, in fact, have a pulse. 

THE IGOR SHOW RETURNS TO SYNDICATION

This was vintage Shesterkin, the kind of performance that forces you to recalibrate your expectations for the night. Carolina spent the first period treating the Rangers like pylons in a morning skate. The shot counter was 14–3 at one point, and that number flatters New York. The defensive-zone coverage was unreliable. The breakout was non-existent. The stars were primarily passengers.

However, Igor was the adult in the room. Cross-crease saves, glove stabs, point-blank denials. If the Hurricanes had scored three in the first ten minutes, no one would have blinked. Instead, the Rangers, as only they can, turned chaos into gold when Noah Laba walked in off the rush and wired one top-corner for a 1–0 lead after one.

THE THIRD LINE ISN’T GOING AWAY

If you’re looking for the heartbeat of this team right now, it resides on the third line. They were the only three forwards consistently capable of tilting the ice in the right direction. Brett Berard, Noah Laba, Jonny Brodzinski played honestly. They played fast. They played without fear. A questionable call gifted Carolina the tying goal, because apparently NHL referees needed to insert themselves into the storyline again, but the Rangers responded with something they haven’t shown nearly enough of this season: stubbornness.

The top six remained fickle, the power play remained ornamental, but with the period slipping away, a fortunate (and overdue) one-timer, Adam Fox to Artemi Panarin, found its way past Andersen to restore a 2–1 lead. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t artistic. It was necessary. 

ROAD DUBS

It's no secret these Blueshirts are road warriors, having just won their league-leading tenth road game, but it's going to continue taking their top-six producing, which transpired in the third. That's where Vincent Trocheck buried an enormous one-timer off a successful Panarin feed just 45 seconds in. That gave the visitors a 3–1 lead in Raleigh, one you had no business owning, and we saw it, as a turnover led to Seth Jarvis cutting the lead to 3–2, and Carolina came as hard as a first-place team is supposed to. This was the moment New York had folded far too often over the past year, but not tonight.

Fox defended like a man who remembered he’s Adam Fox. Gavrikov blocked shots with whatever limbs were functional. Brett Berard and Laba earned a late shift — and deserved it. Shesterkin closed his glove around every puck touched by a Hurricane, including finishing with 38 saves and a + 2.75 goals saved above expected. 

Finally, with Andersen pulled, Will Cuylle sealed it. 4–2. A win that wasn’t pretty, but was absolutely legitimate. No, it doesn’t erase the fact that they’re in last place, whether you want to panic or not. However, this team showed that they can still beat elite competition when the goalie is elite, the defense is committed, and the depth decides to set the tone rather than wait for it.