Rough night in New York for the Canes

The Hurricanes lose Matt Cullen in the second period and a 2-1 lead in the third

Matt Cullen may have escaped serious injury, but the same can't be said about the Carolina Hurricanes' psyche.

They lost Cullen in an instant. They lost the game in the third period, giving up three goals to the New York Rangers in a 4-2 loss Wednesday.

"I thought we were right where we wanted to be going into the third period," Hurricanes defenseman Glen Wesley said, mournfully.

It unraveled quickly, with the Rangers scoring two power-play goals in the first seven-plus minutes of the third to turn a 2-1 Carolina lead into a 3-2 Rangers lead.

Cullen was injured midway through the second period when Rangers forward Colton Orr caught him coming across the middle.

Cullen hit the ice unconscious and suffered a broken nose and a possible concussion, but given the violence of the collision, it could have been much worse.

"When you get knocked out like that and your face hits the ice, if you can walk away with just a broken nose that's a good thing," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's early for me to say one way or another whether it's a concussion or not. Obviously, he didn't come back [Wednesday]."

Orr was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for interference, but the Canes failed to score on the five-minute power play, managing only one shot and a breakaway that saw Erik Cole ring his shot off the post.

They got one on the power play later in the second when Eric Staal deflected a Dennis Seidenberg shot past Henrik Lundqvist to take a 2-1 lead going into the third, but it didn't last long.

The Rangers scored a power-play goal less than two minutes into the period to tie the score and another with 12:54 to play to take a 3-2 lead. It was 4-2 by the halfway point and should have been 5-2, if not for a quick whistle.

"They scored two power-play goals, plain and simple," Hurricanes forward Cory Stillman said. "Their power play scores two, ours scores one and it ends up as the difference in the hockey game. We got one shot [on the five-minute power play]. That can't happen."

Jaromir Jagr, who stood and watched as David Tanabe scored on a breakaway to cap a 4-0 Carolina win at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 3, scored twice for the Rangers.

That was one of Carolina's best games of the season. This one was not.

The Canes had won three of their previous four, including third-period rallies against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning.

But after getting outshot 13-5 in the first period, the Canes were outshot 16-6 in the third.

"They are one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, so to keep them down to 22 shots was a plus," Rangers center Scott Gomez said.

Three of those shots came on a two-man advantage in the final 53 seconds with the outcome all but assured. They went 1-for-7 on the power play and are 2-for-32 over the past five-plus games.

"I liked the second period a lot better than the first," Laviolette said. "The first looked like three days off and travel. [The Rangers] came out and had a lot of pepper in their step. I thought we got better in the second period and responded, and then obviously lost it in the third."

Things turned ugly with six minutes to go, with Sean Avery and Andrew Ladd trying to fight despite the linesman standing between them, but Carolina's stand came too late.

They had their chance to make the Rangers pay on the scoreboard. They let them off the hook. The Rangers weren't quite as generous.