Rangers 4, Hurricanes 1

After a close opening period, the Carolina Hurricanes fell apart and lost to the New York Rangers, 4-1 on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.  Realistically, the Canes have been out of playoff contention for awhile, but the loss to the Rangers officially knocked them out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

During the first intermission, Hurricanes owner, Peter Karmanos, spoke to announcer John Forslund and asked for more patience from fans.  The owner said he was not ready to blow things up and thought the coaching staff was "good".

We will talk more about the interview in another article coming up.

Patrick Dwyer got the scoring started just 3:22 into the game with the help of an attacking Brett Bellemore, but the Rangers tied things with a powerplay tally before the end of the period.

The home team then scored 50 seconds into the second period and never looked back.

Cam Ward made 32 saves on 36 shots and was kept very busy on this night.  His counterpart, Henrik Lundqvist was not quite so busy, especially in the third period when the Canes were outshot 15-7.

Next up will be the Washington Capitals at the PNC on Thursday night for the final home game of the season for the Hurricanes.

Game Notes:

• The Canes had 28 shots on goal and were led by Nathan Gerbe with five.
• The Rangers were not called for a single penalty all night.  Carolina killed one of three New York powerplays.
• Ron Hainsey played a team high 23:09 while Radek Dvorak was team low with 6:20.
• The team was out-hit 21-14 but had 24 blocked shots.  John-Michael Liles led the way with six blocks and Hainsey had four.
• Post game interviews at Canes PR.com.