Rangers 4, Hurricanes 3

The Carolina Hurricanes allowed two powerplay goals in the first period and went on to fall to the New York Rangers, 4-3 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.  The win for New York broke up a three game losing streak for the blueshirts.

Once again, the Hurricanes outshot their opponents, this time in every single period, but the Rangers were able to take advantage of their chances more so than Carolina.

Down two goals going into the second period, Andrej Nestrasil made a pretty pass to the front of the net which Jordan Staal poked past Henrik Lundqvist to make it 2-1, just 1:40 into the second.  That line of Staal, Nestrasil, and Nordstrom continue to inject energy into the Carolina lineup.

It was a short-lived momentum swing though because Chris Kreider scored on what looked to be a harmless shot from an angle, just 44 seconds later to put the Rangers back up by two, 3-1.

The Hurricanes had just killed a penalty later in the period when Cam Ward played the puck and passed it to Kevin Hayes just inside the blueline.  Hayes made a nice move and passed the puck to Derick Brassard, who made no mistake when he put the Rangers up 4-1.

To the Hurricanes credit, they came back with even more resolve and made a hockey game of it.

Victor Rask scored late in the second to make it 4-2 and Chris Terry closed out the scoring in the third period.

The Carolina powerplay did look better in this game, for instance Justin Faulk hit the post on one particular play, but they could not solve "The King" who made the saves he needed to make.

Next up for the Canes will be a home game against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• The Hurricanes outshot the Rangers 36-22 for the game, which is probably sounding like a broken record for this team.  Elias Lindholm led the way with six and had an assist this night, giving him points in five straight games.
• The club was outhit 26-12.
• Faulk had a team high 26:04 of ice time.
• Jaccob Slavin scored his first career NHL point.
• The Rangers blocked 25 Carolina shots.
• The young trio of defensemen made some mistakes, but certainly looked dynamic at times.  They were fun to watch.
• Event Summary