The Rangers notched their second win in a row - and improved to 10-2-1 in their last 13 games - with a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes. Mika Zibanejad, K'Andre Miller, Filip Chytil and Jacob Trouba each had a goal and an assist for New York (21-12-6), who is 3-1-1 in their past five games. Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves, including a huge one, point break on Seth Jarvis late in the third period with the team short handed. The Blueshirts face the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday.
Game recap:
A few thoughts: 1) The lines last night were the same as faced Florida. But coach Gerard Gallant sat Chytil, Sammy Blais and Julien Gauthier for large stretches of the third period. Barclay Goodrow moved up to the third line in place of Chytil, whose benching still doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Maybe Gallant blamed him for the shot that deflected off his stick past Shesterkin 29 seconds after the Rangers tied the game at two. Beyond that, not sure what Gallant saw that warranted stapling Chytil to the bench, though he said post game it was because Chytil was on ice for a pair of goals against. But he did have Chytil on late with a one-goal lead on the power play for which the end result was a PP empty-net tally to clinch the game.
Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Vitali Kravtsov Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Jimmy Vesey Sammy Blais, Barclay Goodrow, Julien Gauthier
2) The game was schizophrenic. Rangers fall down 1-0 on a weird goal but rally to tie on a Trouba shot that somehow beat Pyotr Kochetkov, who was making his first start after being sidelined due to injury and a hot Antti Raanta for six games. That tie didn’t last long as 16 seconds later, Carolina regained the lead. Zib got a lucky PPG late in the second that went in five-hole, but 29 seconds later, Carolina regained the lead again.
New York has been good in the third period nearly all year and yesterday was the same. Artemi Panarin fling towards the net also went in five-hole. Zib’s point shot was deflected by a curling Miller in front of the net for a 4-3 lead and it was all she wrote.
3) Puck luck and refereeing - New York benefited from both. All the posts that had been hit were forgotten yesterday as at least one if not more tallies were due to a little luck. But as we have said a lot before, get pucks on net and good things could happen, which was the case yesterday.
If the NHL has a screw the Hurricanes button, it was in full effect yesterday. Carolina had several questionable calls go against them, resulting in the team allowing three power-play goals on five opportunities after not allowing one in its previous four games (14-for-14). While New York was uneven at times and struggled early, the win was a big one as Carolina hadn’t lost since Dec. 6 (4-3 in overtime at the Anaheim Ducks); its last regulation loss was Nov. 23 (4-0 to the Arizona Coyotes).
New York after the game talked about the improvements resulting from being better in their structure. The good news is that the players recognized what was going wrong and corrected it during the game. On the flip side is that this happened initially rather than utilizing that structure right from the get go. But challenges will always happen and the teams that can adjust and adapt and remediate mid game have a shot a winning contests they normally might lose.
4) Trouba and Miller - woof bad in the first period at a minimum, but like the team, they rallied. Trouba contributed to the first three goals scored overall in the game, two by Carolina and one by New York, and also was on ice for the ‘Canes third goal. Miller struggled as well, either because or with Trouba. The switch flipped though and each, especially Miller, came up big in the third. Not an ideal path to a win, and Trouba is a polarizing player for the fan base, but the erstwhile top line pair found a path forward to help notch the victory. Miller, before the first two periods, had turned his game around after a rough first 4-6 weeks, boding well for the future.
5) Kakko and Kravtsovhave more than held their own at the top-six right wingers. Kakko has been especially good, displaying his ability to play below the circles and on the walls while also possessing the skill level that augments his physical play. Kravtsov needs to get stronger but you can’t teach his talent level. Plus, getting knocked down by Dmitry Orlov a few games ago hasn’t made him reluctant at all in engaging offensively. If the duo can continue to improve, the offensive issues that have existed with this team should be remediated.