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Curse breakers: Canes win at MSG for first time since 2010

Thanks to a huge goal from Warren Foegele, a 27-save shutout from Petr Mrazek and some insane stick work from Jaccob Slavin, the Canes have their first win at Madison Square Garden since Oct. 29, 2010 with a 3-0 victory over the Rangers.

By Andrew Schnittker
NHL: Carolina Hurricanes at New York Rangers Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

The demons have been exorcised. The dragon has been slain. Our long national nightmare is over. Whatever your hyperbole of choice may be, Friday was a momentous night for the Carolina Hurricanes. With a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers, the Canes have won at Madison Square Garden for the first time since Oct. 29, 2010.

Warren Foegele scored the game-winning goal to snap the Canes’ (28-21-6) 16-game road losing streak to the Rangers (23-23-8). Last time the Canes won at MSG, Erik Cole scored the game winner with a power-play goal late in the third period.

Andrei Svechnikov and Brock McGinn picking up empty netters to seal the deal. Petr Mrazek was flawless in net, stopping 27 of 27 shots for his second shutout of the season.

With the win, the Canes have won three straight and are a point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the East’s final wild card and the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Following a scoreless game to that point, the Canes finally broke through about seven minutes into the third period as the fourth line came up big. Greg McKegg brought the puck into the zone, dropped it back to Saku Maenalanen and Maenalanen set up Foegele between the circles. Foegele made no mistake, snapping a puck past Henrik Lundqvist to make it 1-0.

The Canes got a couple grade-A chances to take the lead late in the first period, but could not find the back of the net.

Micheal Ferland tipped a Lucas Wallmark shot off the post on a power play, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped Nino Niederreiter on a clear-cut breakaway, sending the teams to the intermission scoreless.

Jaccob Slavin served as the Canes’ second goalie, using his stick to stop the Rangers from scoring with Mrazek out of position in both the first and second periods.

Svechnikov came inches from breaking the ice with about seven minutes left in the second with a shot off the rush that beat Lundqvist but hit the goal post.

Slavin made his third goal-saving stick play shortly after, sprawling on the ice to break up a cross-crease pass that would have given the Blueshirts a tap-in.

Not to be shown up by Slavin, Mrazek kept the game scoreless with a point-blank, shorthanded save on Mika Zibanejad in the dying seconds of the middle frame.

The Rangers pulled Lundqvist for an extra skater with about a minute and a half left, but Svechnikov iced the game with biggest empty-net goal for the Canes in quite some time. McGinn added another empty netter on the backhand from 190 feet out with 28.8 seconds left to remove any remaining, nagging doubt that the streak would come to an end.

The Canes are now 12-4-1 since the calendar flipped to 2019, and their 12 wins and 25 points in that span lead the NHL. The team will continue this road trip with a visit to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

As a bonus, here’s a few things that took place during the calendar year 2010, the last time the Canes won at MSG:

  • Barack Obama was in his first term as POTUS
  • The iPad was released
  • Duke defeated Butler in the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball championship
  • The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl 44
  • The final season of Lost aired
  • Simon Cowell left American Idol
  • Popular movies released included The Social Network, Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech, and Inception
  • The year-end top 10 on the Billboard 100 was as follows:

Tik-Tok, Kesha

Need You Yow, Lady Antebellum

Hey Soul Sister, Train

California Gurls, Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg

OMG, Usher featuring will.i.am

Airplanes, B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams

Love the Way you Lie, Eminem featuring Rihanna

Bad Romance, Lady Gaga

Dynamite, Taio Cruz

Break your Heart, Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris

  • This writer, who *knocks on wood* graduates from NC State in May, was a couple months into eighth grade

On the ice, during the 2010-11 NHL season:

  • The Canes began their first season without Rod Brind’Amour on the ice
  • Jeff Skinner won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year
  • The NHL All-Star Game host Carolina Hurricanes were represented by Skinner, Eric Staal, Cam Ward and Jamie McBain (rookie group)
  • The Canes lost their final game of the season to the Tampa Bay Lightning to miss the playoffs by two points
  • Led by the stellar play of Conn Smythe Trophy-winning goalie Tim Thomas, the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to capture the Stanley Cup