Recap: Hurricanes Blow Out Rangers 6-1

The Rangers kicked off 2024 playing host to a division rival in the Carolina Hurricanes and just like many of us, did not have the easiest first day back to work after ringing in the new year. The Rangers fell behind early and struggled with special teams which resulted in Carolina evening up the season series in the teams second meeting of the year in quite the dominant fashion.

1st Period:

The Rangers would quickly be at a disadvantage as Alexis Lafrenèire was sent off for interfering with Seth Jarvis in a center ice collision. The Garden was just as quickly filled with boos everytime Canes top player Sebastian Aho touched the puck as he was at the other end of the collision that left Adam Fox sidelined for an extended amount of time earlier in the season. While that kept him and the Canes top power play unit off the board, the second unit would convert to make it a 1-0 game early. Jack Drury finished on a picture perfect one timer off a feed from Stefan Noesen.

The Hurricanes nearly made it a two goal game as Igor Shesterkin turned over a slow moving puck to the stick of Sebastian Aho who found Andrei Svechnikov cutting hard to the net that required a big save from the Rangers netminder to make up for the turnover. Shortly after, Artemiy Panarin was slowed down on a potential breakaway which resulted in Carolina’s first penalty of the night as Jalen Chatfield was assigned a holding infraction. The Canes aggressive penalty kill held the Rangers off the board through the two minute advantage.

With under a minute to go, Jacob Trouba was tied up with Aho down low in the Rangers zone which got him sent off for holding. The Hurricanes continued to be successful on the man advantage as just twenty seconds in, Aho patiently sent a clean pass over to Svechnikov who quickly fired the puck past Shesterkin to make it a 2-0 game.

Special teams were clearly the difference maker through the games first twenty as the Hurricanes capitalized on both of their power plays despite the Rangers out-shooting them 12-9. While the Rangers had the advantage in shots, the Hurricanes were doing a great job of clogging up the neutral zone which really limited high danger opportunities for the Rangers. Things were pretty physical as the game grew more and more chippy as play went on. These are two teams who don’t like each other much to begin with and a couple of missed and iffy calls from the officials certainly weren’t helping.

2nd Period:

The Rangers had a great chance to get on the board early as a Brett Pesce turnover was grabbed by Vincent Trocheck and thrown on net. The rebound was right there for Panarin but Pyotr Kochetkov was able to make the save. The chances kept coming as Mika Zibanejad went behind the legs on a rebound but wouldn’t be able to find the back of the net. K’Andre Miller was slashed on the preceding shot on goal which led to another power play opportunity for the Rangers as Jordan Martinook headed to the penalty box. Despite the advantage, the Rangers fumbled their way through the power play without generating much possession or high quality chances.

Not long after the teams returned to even strength, the Rangers finally found the back of the net. Jacob Trouba let a shot go from the point that Chris Kreider was able to get a stick on to tip the puck past Kochetkov for his 19th of the season.

Unfortunately, all the momentum gained from Kreider’s goal would quickly fade. Another mishandled puck from Igor Shesterkin resulted in Jordan Staal finding Jordan Martinook wide open in the slot who lifted the shot right past Shesterkin to regain a two goal lead for the Canes, 3-1.

Shesterkin wasn’t fully to blame as Erik Gustafsson banked a pass off the boards intended for Braden Schneider which led to a miscommunication between the Rangers netminder and his defensemen. Regardless, these are little mistakes you can’t make against a team like Carolina.

A bit of a strange circumstance followed as the Rangers were called for a slashing penalty just a couple of minutes away from the midway point of the game. Barclay Goodrow was initially sent to the box but after a brief discussion with the officials, Goodrow was sent to the Rangers bench with Tyler Pitlick replacing him in the penalty box. An ever-so-slightly more ideal scenario for the Rangers as Goodrow’s a key part of their penalty kill but a disadvantage nevertheless. Thankfully, the Rangers finally found a way to hold the Hurricanes man advantage off as they killed off the full two minutes.

The game’s pace really took a hit from there as things drastically slowed down but with about thirty seconds to go in the second, the Rangers headed back to the power play as Adam Fox drew a holding penalty on Martin Necas. Things almost went south again as Seth Jarvis had a chance on a Carolina odd man rush that Shesterkin was able to turn away. Down 3-1 after two, the Rangers still had the advantage in shots on goal, out-shooting Carolina 10-5 in the second, 22-14 on the night. They would continue on the power play to start the third period with plenty of time remaining to climb back in this one.

3rd Period:

The Rangers again failed to get anything going on the power play and just after the man advantage came to an end, a shot from Jalen Chatfield went through traffic in front and passed Shesterkin to make it 4-1 in favor of Carolina. Just an absolute nightmare of an evening regarding special teams as the Rangers had nothing to show for on the man advantage and gave up several short handed goals.

Things went from bad to worse as Svechnikov picked up his second of the night on a beautiful individual play just a minute and a half after the Chatfield goal making it 5-1 bad guys.

Carolina went back to the power play as Blake Wheeler was called for tripping up Brent Burns. This came pretty shortly after Wheeler took a cross check from behind that sent him crashing into Kochetkov but just as they had throughout the night, the officials were interestingly a bit picky and choosy with their calls. The Rangers penalty killers were able to find success on this one but it didn’t spark much as Svechnikov’s goal really felt to be the final dagger in this one despite how early in the period the goal came.

The Rangers also began dealing with some behind the scenes injuries as Nick Bonino went back and forth between the Rangers bench and locker room with Tyler Pitlick also heading there late in the third. With just under five to go,Michael Bunting finished on a simple and effective move that came from a nice pass from former friend Brendan Lemieux to make it a 6-1 game which would stand as the final score. Final shots were 29-26 in favor of New York but frankly, there wasn’t much to be proud of in this one.

The Rangers are right back at it on home ice Thursday Night as they’ll host Connor Bedard for the first time as the Chicago Blackhawks come to town. From a fan standpoint, this is certainly a burn the tape night but for the Rangers, there is certainly lots to learn from in what was quite an uncharacteristic night for the team as a whole.