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Key takeaways after Rangers lose 3-0 to Hurricanes, remain winless at home
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- Key takeaways after Rangers lose 3-0 to Hurricanes, remain winless at home
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Never before in their 100-year history had the New York Rangers lost their first six home games. That is until now, in their centennial season. With a 3-0 shutout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers dropped to 0-5-1 on home ice.
Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped all 25 Rangers shots in his first game of the season, after returning from a lower-body injury. Because, of course he did. It was the fourth time the Rangers were shut out on home ice already in 2025-26. They've scored six goals in six home games, five coming in a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23.
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"That's the challenge of sports, is when it doesn't go your way, you've got to show a certain amount of resilience and you've got to fight through it. That's where we're at," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan explained after the loss.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for the Rangers (6-6-2), whose first three-game winning streak since last November came to an end.
Sean Walker had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who are 5-3-0 on the road this season and 8-4-0 overall. Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal of the season, and Seth Jarvis hit the empty net for his team-leading eighth goal.
In the first period Tuesday, the Rangers picked right up where they left off in their previous game, a 3-2 overtime win in Seattle on Saturday, when they dominated puck possession and held the Kraken to 13 shots on goal.
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This time, the Rangers stormed out of the gates and had a 13-3 shots advantage, pretty much beating the Hurricanes at their own game for the first half of the first period. But Kochetkov was more than up to the challenge, making a string of big-time saves, including a point-blank stop on Artemi Panarin , who was all alone in the low slot at 5:16.
Kochetkov then made four saves on New York's only power play of the opening period, including Grade-A chances for J.T. Miller and Alexis Lafreniere .
The tide turned when the Rangers took consecutive penalties, beginning at 13:01 when Vladislav Gavrikov was whistled for slashing. Just 29 seconds later, it was 1-0 Hurricanes. Ehlers wired a shot through a Jarvis screen after the Hurricanes won an offensive zone face-off.
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Though the Rangers killed off Noah Laba's hooking minor at 13:38, they surrendered momentum, and were outshot 11-2 after the first penalty until the end of the period.
Kochetkov set the tone for how the second period would go when he stoned Jonny Brodzinski on a clean one-timer from between the circles just 35 seconds in. The 26-year-old then made six saves during a Rangers power play at the :52 mark, including absolute gems against Miller and Brodzinski from in close.
Again, the Hurricanes got better as the period moved along. And they doubled their lead at 17:07, when Walker's right-wing snap shot beat Shesterkin to the far side, again, through a screen, to make it 2-0.
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The Rangers were completely shut down the rest of the way. In fact, they recorded just one shot on goal in the third period. Carolina officially put the game away at 18:29, when Jarvis scored into an empty net with Shesterkin on the bench for a sixth attacker — though the end result felt like a formality through the majority of the final period.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose again at home, 3-0 to Hurricanes
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
1. J.T. Miller shoulders blame for Rangers' scoring struggles
Miller led the Rangers with five shots on goal Tuesday, including at least two that should've been in the back of the net. Yet he didn't score again. He's got three goals in 14 games this season, including that clutch overtime winner in Edmonton against the Oilers last week. That's not nearly enough, though, for a seven-time 20-goal scorer in the NHL.
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To make matters worse, Miller's yet to score a goal on home ice this season, despite numerous prime opportunities to do so. And the frustration was quite evident on his face, and with his body language, again on Tuesday.
Afterward, the Rangers captain shouldered a big part of the blame for the Blueshirts' inability to score at The Garden, nor score enough overall.
"It starts with myself and the leadership group," Miller explained postgame . "This is where we need to dig deep and carry the load a little and raise our own expectations for ourselves; not just, 'We like what we're doing and we're getting looks.' It's not really cute anymore. It's been 14 games, I think, and we're not executing by capitalizing on our chances."
2. Hurricanes give Rangers a master class in how to close out game
The first 13 minutes of the game, the Rangers owned the puck, played a fast and heavy north-south game, and tilted the ice decidedly in their favor. They resembled, ironically, the Hurricanes. Eventually, the visitors found their footing, thanks to Kochetkov, and turned the game more in their favor, though.
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Up 2-0, the Hurricanes provided a master class in how to close out a game in the third period. Not only did Carolina not allow New York a shot until 13:13 elapsed off the game clock, but it was the only shot the home team recorded the entire period. And it was a dump-in from beyond the blue line, to boot.
The Hurricanes skated circles around the Rangers in the third period, played keep-away with the puck, and completely sucked any and all energy out of the building. The rare times that the Rangers entered the offensive zone, they were forced to the perimeter, and quickly surrendered possession of the puck.
It was a dominant teamwide effort by the Hurricanes, who, you should be reminded, had three rookie defensemen in the lineup since veterans K'Andre Miller, Jaccob Slavin , and Shayne Gostisbehere are all out with injuries. But this is in the Hurricanes DNA under coach Rod Brind'Amour, and it's no surprise that they're now 7-0-0 when leading after two periods.
3. Power play looks good, but fails again
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There was a time as recently as two years ago that the Rangers could count on their power play to bail them out by consistently scoring timely goals. That began to change last season, when the power play failed to be a savior in a complete dumpster-fire of a season.
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The power play's looked much better this season, but the results are simply not there. It's frustrating as hell to watch, much less to be out there wearing a Rangers sweater.
Tuesday, the Rangers recorded 10 shots on goal on their first two power plays. As they've done pretty consistently this season, they moved the puck quickly, found the open man, and generated a bunch of great looks. And didn't score. Again.
They were 0-for-3 against the Hurricanes and are 4-for-36 this season, worst in the League. They're 0-for-12 the past five games, and have at least one power-play goal in just three of 14 games this season (they had two against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 11).
To make matters worse Tuesday, the Hurricanes entered the game 3-for-32, and wouldn't you know that Ehlers scored a power-play goal in the first period. It ended up to be the game-winner.
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