Rangers 2, Hurricanes 1 - SO

The Carolina Hurricanes continued to work hard but once again came up a bit short as they dropped their second straight shootout, this time by a score of 2-1 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Anton Khudobin was the star of the game for the Canes as the goalie made 33 saves on 34 shots in the losing effort.

After a slow start, the Canes ended up out-shooting the home team by a 13-8 margin in a scoreless first period, but Carolina looked overwhelmed at times in the second period as they were outshot by a 12-5 margin.   Although Khudobin was in midseason form and held the fort for the visitors.

The Hurricanes took their first lead of the season later in that second period when Chris Terry scored his third goal of the season as he beat Henrik Lundqvist with a nicely placed wrister from just beyond the circle.

The goal put Terry in a tie with Jiri Tlusty for most goals (3) and points (4) on the team.

In the third period, the Rangers came on strong and eventually scored when a shot from the point hit Derick Brassard and got past Khudobin, to tie things up.

Both teams battled hard the rest of the third but it ended up as a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation and also went scoreless in overtime.

The Rangers outshot the Hurricanes 3-2 in the extra period and 34-30 in the game.

Rick Nash would be the final shooter in the shootout after the previous five shooters were stopped.  He got the game-winner past the Carolina goalie with the help of a nasty fake.

The Canes penalty kill looked very good in this game as they did not allow a powerplay goal in five tries, although the Blueshirts have yet to score a powerplay goal this season.

Carolina will have a much needed few days before their next contest, which won't be until Tuesday night in Winnipeg. They will practice at noon on Friday at the PNC.

Game Notes:

• Nathan Gerbe left the game a bit early due to a lower body injury.  There was no update on his status.
• Chris Terry got some ice time in the overtime period, after not "earning" it against Buffalo.  Alexander Semin on the otherhand, did not see the ice in the extra period.  He did lead things off as normal in the shootout, but was stopped by Lundqvist.
• The other shooters for Carolina were Terry and Murphy.
• Officially, the Canes went 0-3 on the powerplay, though they did make some good zone entries on their chances.
• Justin Faulk and Jay Harrison had team high ice time of 26:31 and  26:00.
• Ryan Murphy had a team high six shots on goal.  Victor Rask was next with four.
• The Canes dominated again in the faceoff circle and won 66% for the game.  Riley Nash was at 71%, Jay McClement, 68%, and Rask won 61%.  The team is first in the NHL with a 59% winning percentage.
• Carolina's team defense helped out Khudobin by blocking 22 New York shots.  Murphy had five blocks and Faulk had four.
• Event Summary stat sheet
• Bill Peters post game presser

Three Snarks from the open thread:

(3) CanesHockeyFan: "I need more tv’s trying to watch 3 games. I guess life is good if that is my biggest problem."
(2) Adrian Havill: "King Henrik has given up 14 goals in three games. About to be demoted to commoner."
(1) Winter is Coming: "Gerbe in the dressing room, I’m sure it’s something good. Like cake! Maybe it’s cake!"

Three Snarks Standings:

1. Winter is Coming - 6
2. JustListenen - 3
3. Flyingv2112 - 3
4. StickCheck - 3
5. Adrian Havill - 3
6. Bgallen - 2
7. Will_S13 - 2
8. zambone - 1
9. CanesHockeyFan - 1