New face stops Canes, who suffer season-sweep at hands of Rangers
The Carolina Hurricanes have lost to the New York Rangers again but this time it had nothing to do with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
In fact, Lundqvist was a healthy scratch Friday for the Rangers, a spectator.
The Rangers, surging in the Eastern Conference, have a new star in net — rookie goalie Igor Shesterkin — and showed him off against the Canes in a 5-2 victory at PNC Arena.
The Rangers (32-24-4), winning their seventh straight road game, pulled within four points of a playoff wild-card position. The Canes (34-22-4), impressive in a 4-1 road win Tuesday over the Nashville Predators, fell out of the second wild-card spot and lost all four games to the Rangers this season
“They were good. They were desperate more than we were,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We needed to have more desperation early in the game and kind of set the tone and we never did.’.
Lundqvist has long bedeviled the Hurricanes, as have the Rangers, who now have won 31 of the past 37 games between the two Metropolitan Division teams. But Lundqvist, 37, has stepped aside to make way for Shesterkin, 24, who has won eight of his first nine NHL starts and quickly is becoming the talk of the league.
Canes forward Brock McGinn, in his 300th career game, did beat Shesterkin in the second period. Carrying the puck into the slot, McGinn caught the Russian leaning to his right and beat him with a shot to the far side.
Canes center Sebastian Aho scored his 35th of the season in the third period on a power play, Aho extending his point streak to 11 games and Andrei Svechnikov to nine games with an assist on the Aho goal.
“We wanted to build off that Nashville game,” McGinn said. “We came out strong and played a full 60 minutes there. Tonight, unfortunately, I don’t think we played that full 60 minutes and it cost us.”
This was the Rangers night, again. Mika Zibanejad scored on a breakaway in the first period — the Rangers led 1-0 after — one-- and had two assists, and Artemi Panarin scored on a power play early in the third for a 4-1 lead. Ryan Strome’s late empty netter finished off the New York scoring.
But New York also scored twice in the second when pucks went off the skates of Canes defensemen in front of goalie Petr Mrazek. Jesper Fast had a pass intended for Panarin hit the skate of Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei had a pass hit Jake Gardiner’s skate.
“We know when our game is going we continue to push and work and we’re going to get some good bounces,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said. “Tonight, we have to be more desperate and it wasn’t there and that’s frustrating this time of year.”
The Rangers were active and tough in the defensive zone. New York blocked 17 Carolina shots in the opening period and Shesterkin, calm in net, stopped the 11 shots that got to the net. Zibanejad blocked a shot by Staal from the point, grabbing the puck and speedind down ice to beat Mrazek on the breakaway for his 27th.
Shesterkin, who had 27 saves, made his most spectacular save with six minutes left in the first. The Canes’ Nino Niederreiter redirected a puck in the low slot but Shesterkin showed off his quick reflexes as he gloved the puck.
“He’s a good goalie and made some big saves early that would have helped us kind of get into the game a little more,” Staal said. “It would have been a different game, I think, at the start. I still don’t think we tested them enough.”
After Fast gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead, things turned chippy. Svechnikov, on the forecheck, got in a couple of big hits but the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba retaliated by getting in Svechnikov’s face and then throwing a punch.
Both Trouba and Svechnikov were penalized for roughing, leaving Canes fans in the sellout crowd booing. The boos were louder later in the second when Trouba hit Canes center Erik Haula along the back boards with an elbow to the head that left Haula woozy — Trouba not drawing a penalty on the play.
Forward Julien Gauthier, traded to the Rangers by the Canes this week, was in the New York lineup for a second straight game but played just eight shifts.
It was the second straight victory for the Rangers on their “Moms Trip.” Linda Staal, who was with the Canes and cheering son Jordan in Nashville, was in a Rangers sweater Friday cheering for son Marc Staal, a veteran defenseman.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 9:34 PM.
