NEW YORK – Despite being outshot 36-22, Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves and the New York Rangers hung on late to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, in regulation. The win was Lundqvist’s 13th of the year and the team’s 17th. Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward made 18 saves in his eighth loss.
“When we’ve had good opportunities to score goals we’ve been able to finish it pretty consistently,” Marc Staal said. “Three or four goals a game is usually enough to win, and we’ve been doing that pretty consistently, so it’s good to get back on the board like that.”
The Rangers’ power play and penalty kill helped them snap their losing streak going two-for-four with the man advantage and killing off all three penalties they took.
Eric Staal feeling frustration from close losses – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“At this point, it’s frustrating,” Hurricanes captain Eric Staal said. “Obviously, we need to get wins. We need points. We are finding ways to let them slip away. There’s areas we need to improve, and you need to put it all together at the same time.”
Mats Zuccarello and Oscar Lindberg scored on the power play, both in the first period, marking this the first game this year they scored more than one power play goal in a game. Chris Kreider and Derick Brassard picked up the other two goals.
The Rangers took a 4-1 lead in the second period on a beautiful dish by Kevin Hayes to Brassard on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Ward gave the puck away to Hayes who had just left the penalty box when he took it deep in the zone before giving Brassard a one-timer goal from the right circle.
After the game Marc Staal said, “Funny things happen to a team when you start losing” referring to their three-game losing streak. “You start regressing and getting down on yourselves. But I thought we at least came in excited to play, to get back at it, trying to get that win.”
Though they finally snapped their streak, a bit of bad news came early when defensemen Kevin Klein left the game early with a muscle strain in his abdomen. The Rangers rotated five defensemen for 53:29 of the whole 60 minutes.
Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault reported that Klein will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
The Rangers (17-6-2) take on their rivals, the New York Islanders (13-8-4) in Brooklyn on Wednesday, December 2nd. The Hurricanes (8-12-4) will return home to face the New Jersey Devils (12-9-2) at 7pm.
