Rangers Continue Dominance Over Hurricanes With 2-1 Win
by Matt Calamia @MattCalamia / NYRangers.com
Raleigh, N.C. - There are two certainties in life: death and taxes.
But if there's one near certainty for the Rangers over the last handful of years, it's beating the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers edged Carolina, 2-1, Saturday night to sweep the four-game season series against their Metropolitan Division rival. The win improved the Rangers to 25-4 in their last 29 meetings against the Hurricanes dating back to February 2011.
"I just talked to [Ondrej Pavelec] Sometimes you have certain teams and buildings where you just feel comfortable coming in and playing," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 40 saves and is now 19-3 in his last 22 games since this streak began more than seven years ago. "We always have a lot of fans here so you want to make the most of that."
Ryan Sproul opened the scoring with his first goal as a Ranger 3:01 into the second period. Paul Carey, who replaced David Desharnais (wrist injury) in the lineup, hit Sproul with a pass at the top of the circle and the blueliner ripped a shot past Cam Ward to put New York up 1-0.
"It's nice to score goals," said Sproul. "It's a heckuva play. [Vlad Namestnikov] on the wall made a great play to Carey, who made a great play to me. When you're walking in the slot like that, it makes it pretty easy."
Kevin Hayes made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 13:23 of the middle frame. Hayes broke up a play at the Rangers' blueline and fed Jesper Fast spring the winger on a break. Hayes beat a Hurricanes defender up the ice and buried a one-timer from Fast for his 23rd goal of the season.
Jeff Skinner scored Carolina's only goal 8:07 into the third, but it gave the hosts life down the stretch, especially in the final three minutes with their net empty and with Hayes in the penalty box.
"Organized chaos, if you can say that" Lundqvist joked of the final push by the Hurricanes to try and tie the game. "They were throwing pucks all night. Shorthanded, last minute - what happened in Washington, too. You want to get this win and feel good about it afterwards. It felt really important to pull it off."
Coach Alain Vigneault said his team made adjustments to their 6-on-5 - and 6-on-4 - defense following the late goal against the Capitals Wednesday that led to an overtime loss.
"We talked about it. We showed some video examples of better positioning," Vigneault said. "We didn't have time to practice it but we showed it on video and showed it to the whole team … and we were able to respond a little bit better tonight."
The victory by the Rangers officially eliminated the Hurricanes from playoff contention. And while there's little solace for the Blueshirts, it's something to play for.
"If we're not getting in, we're going to make sure that as many teams we play against these next games don't get in as well," Mika Zibanejad said. "They can join us in April."
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