Recap: Rangers Weather The Storm, Win 2-1

A storm it certainly was as this game became quite the battle that took a toll on this Rangers team, leaving them with two injuries. Nevertheless, the Rangers did what they seem to do best and found a way to win, advancing them to an 8-2 record to start the season. Pretty incredible start to the season as they win their sixth in a row in a 2-1 game decided in the final period of regulation.

1st Period:

It was a far from disciplined start to the game as it only took a minute and a half for the Rangers to head to the power play. Carolina was called for a too-many men penalty where they were caught in a line change with practically nine skaters still on the ice. After a pair of successful zone clearings from Carolina, Vincent Trocheck made a nice move at the point to get the puck down low to Artemiy Panarin who fed it over to Chris Kreider on the opposite side of the net to make it 1-0 game early.

Artemiy Panarin now extends his point streak to ten games, which ties for the third longest point scoring streak to start the season.

Chris Kreider also ties Andy Bathgate for fourth most goals in New York Rangers history at 272.

The Rangers would go back to the power play about five minutes later as Michael Bunting was called for holding. That top unit continued to look real confident but wouldn’t capitalize as the Hurricanes were able to hold them off. The Rangers dominated from the start as it took eleven minutes for the Hurricanes to even register a shot on goal in the game.

Not long afterwards, it was the Rangers turn for a too-many men penalty. Very quickly into the man advantage, Seth Jarvis was able to use his speed to sneak right past the Rangers defenders to come down on a breakaway and put his team on the board on just their second shot on goal.

A bit of a scary moment came when Adam Fox collided with Sebastian Aho at the blue line. Fox was slow to get up but was seemingly fine as he initially didn’t miss a shift. However later in the period, Fox headed to the Rangers locker room and wouldn’t return for the rest of the period. Fox, along with the rest of the Rangers, weren’t happy about the play but the officials didn’t seem to think the play warranted a penalty. As the game went on, the Hurricanes picked up the intensity and were a bit lax with their sticks, catching the Rangers with a high stick on more than one occasion.

The first one was the only one that would actually be called which gave the Rangers their third chance at the power play with about five minutes to go. Erik Gustafsson would slot in for Adam Fox on the top power play unit which between that and Carolina running a tight ship on the penalty kill, the Rangers were held without a shot on goal. There were at least two more scenarios where Carolina could have been called for high sticking but the officials seemed to miss both of them. On one of which, Alexis Lafrenière went at it a little bit with Andrei Svechnikov but eventually skated separate ways.

The intensity amplified as Carolina was buzzing in the Rangers zone through the final two minutes. So much so that you just felt the Rangers were counting down the seconds until that buzzer went off. After the first twenty, shots were 11-6 in favor of New York. They had a great start to the game but a surge from Carolina and the loss of Adam Fox definitely altered the course of this outing.

2nd Period:

Still no Adam Fox to start the period as it was later announced he would not return to the game with what was ruled a lower-body injury. Right off the bat, Carolina was continuing to catch the Rangers up high with their sticks as Trocheck took one right off a face-off that left him cut up. Again, the officials missed it and play continued.

As if it wasn’t scary enough seeing Adam Fox leave the game with an injury, Igor Shesterkin was a bit slow to get up after a minor collision in front of the net. It didn’t look like there was any serious contact on the play but something about how Shesterkin reacted indicated some discomfort somewhere. Kaapo Kakko took the Rangers second penalty of the night on a hooking call against Jaccob Slavin. The Rangers were able to kill it off but momentum seemed to be moving in Carolina’s favor.

The shots on goal narrative totally flipped nearing the games midway point as the Hurricanes were out-shooting the Rangers 9-2 in the second period. The Hurricanes were making it incredibly difficult for the Rangers to enter the neutral zone which drastically slowed the pace of the game down. After finally spending some time in Carolina’s zone, Jacob Trouba drew a slashing penalty on his good buddy Brady Skjei. Despite some good looks, the Rangers couldn’t convert and spent most of the period going back and forth with Carolina who was becoming more and more tougher to play against.

The Rangers were credited with only four shots on goal in the second as the total shots were tied 15-15.

3rd Period:

Another period, another player short as Filip Chytil left the Rangers bench late in the second and would be ruled out with an upper-body injury. The Rangers were now tasked with quite the challenge of getting back in this game now short a forward and a defenseman. Six minutes in, the Rangers fell victim to yet another stick infraction however this one was noticed by the officials. Jesper Fast was sent off for hooking, giving the Rangers the final power play of the night. The more time Gustafsson spent on that top unit, the more they were able to create chances but at the end of the day, it’s near impossible to fill the void of Adam Fox. Rangers would finish 1/5 on the power play for the night, killing off one of two Carolina power plays.

Just over the halfway point of the third, Jacob Trouba made a strong play at the point to keep the puck in the Hurricanes zone. After skating it in, he made a perfect pass to a wide open Will Cuylee who was able to let a quick shot go to beat Freddie Anderson to make it a 2-1 game.

What a story Cuylle has been to start the season as he’s quietly been such a key part of this Rangers lineup, fitting in quite nicely

It was “Shesterkin’s time to shine” as Sam Rosen said before one of the final TV timeouts as Igor came up with a handful of huge saves as time wound down. For a while after the Rangers took the lead, the game slowed down drastically but the Hurricanes continued to test them. They pulled Freddie Anderson for the extra attacker and the Rangers had to stay locked in to hold them off. Barclay Goodrow was inches away from sealing the deal with an empty netter but nevertheless, the Blueshirts would battle it out and skate away with their sixth win in a row.

A gutsy effort from this Rangers team that battled it out with a strong opponent and overcame adversity to find yet another way to win. The Rangers will hit the road again to take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night as they’ll look to keep this hot streak going.