. The Rangers scooped up a big win Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 2-1, putting the Blueshirts only single digits behind a playoff spot. The star of the show was Henrik Lundqvist who stopped 43 of 44 shots in his return from a two-game absence. The Rangers have now won 17 of their last 22 against Carolina.
New York came out sharp early and almost scored in the first minute. Tony Deangelo let a seemingly harmless shot go from underneath the goal line which found its way deep into the crease. Carolina defenseman Jacob Slavin bailed out his confused netminder, Curtis McElhinney, and swept the puck away. For the rest of the period, the Blueshirts had to rely on Lundqvist to keep them in the game, and he did. Hank stopped all twelve shots he faced but did get lucky in the final second of the frame as Canes’ forward Lucas Wallmark shit the puck wide of a gaping net.
The middle period featured two goals, one for each team, and both were greasy scores on the doorstep. The Hurricanes were able to break the ice about midway through the second period at 9:53. All-star defenseman Dougie Hamilton dished the puck across the ice to Jordan Martinook. Martinook initially missed but followed up his rebound and chipped it over Henrik Lundqvist. Just under a minute later, the Rangers got a goal of their own as Connor Brickley registered his first goal as a Ranger. Filip Chytil’s shot on goal wound up popping up into the air, and as it came down, Brickley had the puck bounce in off him. The initial call on the ice was no-goal, but after a lengthy review, infamous referee Wes McCauley deemed it was a good goal.
“We said going into the third, ‘Just one good period and we’ll be able to come out of here with two points, ” said Mika Zibanejad after the game.
. Although the shots in the third would end upbeing lopsided, the Rangers really did control play. Most of the shots were thrown at the net towards the game’s end. In regards to the scoring, Vlad Namestnikov was the hero once again recording yet another clutch third-period goal. At 6:10, Namestnikov was able to pounce on a loose puck off a shot from Pavel Buchnevich and the Rangers had their first and only lead of the evening. In the concluding moments, with McElhinney on the bench for Carolina, Lundqvist had to make a flurry of saves to seal the deal, including this incredible effort.
Following their win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Rangers will have an off day tomorrow before returning to the ice on Thursday night at home against the Minnesota Wild.
Andrew Chodes
@ChodesAndrew
https://www.nhl.com/video/recap-nyr-2-car-1/t-277753022/c-66038503
