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Rangers blow 3rd period lead, fall 3-2 in overtime to Hurricanes: Takeaways
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- Rangers blow 3rd period lead, fall 3-2 in overtime to Hurricanes: Takeaways
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Less than 11 minutes away from a rousing road victory in Raleigh against the best team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers instead coughed up a one-goal lead in the third period and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime Monday night at Lenovo Center.
Jackson Blake scored on a power-play deflection with 12.6 seconds remaining in overtime for the Hurricanes, who tied the game on a Jordan Martinook deflection at 9:11 of the third period. It was New York's second loss this season when leading after two periods (9-0-2).
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Igor Shesterkin turned in an outstanding performance, finishing with 32 saves, including four in overtime before Blake's game-winner. Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi , a Long Island native, was sharp when called upon, making 17 saves to improve to 13-1-1 in his rookie NHL season.
The Rangers (19-17-5) became the first team in the NHL to play 41 games, the official halfway point of their schedule. Though the Rangers picked up an important point in the standings, their .525 points percentage is 15th out of 16 teams in the East .
Vladislav Gavrikov and Jonny Brodzinski scored for New York, which next plays a New Year's Eve matinee at the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
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Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers added a pair of assists, for Carolina, which won its second straight game and improved to 24-11-3 overall.
The Rangers came out flying and nearly scored on the game-opening shift, but Bussi gloved Will Cuylle's snap shot off an odd-man rush just 22 seconds into play. Less than a minute later, the Rangers had another odd-man opportunity, and though Bussi stoned Noah Laba , who was flying down the middle, the Rangers rookie center drew a slashing penalty against Alexander Nikishin at 1:09.
It took the Rangers just 30 seconds to cash in on the power play. Gavrikov hammered a one-timer from right wing past Bussi for his NHL career-high seventh goal of the season to make it 1-0 Rangers. It was Gavrikov's first power-play goal in the NHL, covering seven seasons and 476 regular-season games.
On the very next shift, Shesterkin made a sharp toe save to deny Andrei Svechnikov after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence by Carolina. Then a few minutes later, he robbed Eric Robinson following a Scott Morrow turnover.
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Carolina nearly tied the game at 7:15, but former Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller ripped a shot off the crossbar. Four minutes later, a scrambling Shesterkin kicked out a bouncing puck before it crossed the goal line.
The Hurricanes finally broke through at 15:57 when Aho wired a shot over Shesterkin's glove and through a partial screen during a 5-on-3 power play, following consecutive penalties by Brodzinski and Braden Schneider .
Brodzinski made up for his penalty, when he scored to put the Rangers up 2-1 at 13:00 of the second period. Matt Rempe started the scoring play by controlling the puck in the offensive zone, and then sending a pass back to Matthew Robertson at the left point. Robertson followed with a shot that was deflected by Sam Carrick directly to Brodzinski, who buried his fourth goal into a wide-open net.
That lead held up until 9:11 of the third period, when the Hurricanes pulled even on a greasy goal scored by Martinook. The Carolina forward drove hard to the net and was in the right spot at the right time, when Jalen Chatfield 's shot hit the back of his skate and the puck slid between Shesterkin's pads to tie things up 2-2.
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Shesterkin gave the Rangers a chance by standing tall to get to the game to overtime and once again in the five-minute extra period. That is until Blake's first career OT winner sealed the visitors fate.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 3-2 in overtime to Hurricanes
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Working overtime
The Rangers and Hurricanes each know a thing or two about playing more than 60 minutes this season. Carolina improved to 9-3 in OT, and played extra hockey for the fifth time in its past nine games. Half of New York's past 14 games (seven) were decided in overtime, with its overall OT record dropping to 7-5.
The turning point of the game came at 3:01 of overtime, when Robertson tripped Taylor Hall from behind after the Hurricanes forward bulled toward the Rangers net. Vincent Trocheck , Gavrikov, and Schneider were out there the entire penalty kill for the Rangers, aided by a timeout called by coach Mike Sullivan at one point following a play stoppage. With some big time help from Shesterkin, they nearly killed off the penalty, which would've forced a shootout to decide the winner.
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But Carolina won all three face-offs in the Rangers end during its power play, and that final win in the dying seconds of the extra period led to the game-winning goal. Aho and Ehlers calmly played catch with the puck before setting up Aho's slapper toward the net, where Blake redirected it past Shesterkin.
Noah Laba , hockey player
Not that we needed to be convinced, after watching Laba grind through the first 41 games of his NHL career. But the 22-year-old rookie is one tough kid.
Laba didn't get an assist on Gavrikov's game-opening goal, but he paid the price to draw the penalty that set the stage for it to happen. He drove hard to the net for an excellent scoring chance, and was in obvious pain after Nikishin slashed him on the hand. It appeared Laba's hand might've been cut, but there was no questioning the fact that he was in distress heading off the ice and, eventually, to the dressing room.
After missing more than 17 minutes of game time, Laba returned to play two more shifts at the end of the first period. He resumed taking his regular shift and playing on the PK in the second period, and nearly scored off a short-handed rush at 15:35. With 9.9 seconds left in regulation, Laba won a crucial face-off in his own end after the Rangers iced the puck. He also skated a shift during overtime.
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Not bad for someone who looked like his night was done in the first minute of the game.
Fast start not enough for Rangers
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With two odd-man rushes in the opening minute of play, and a power-play goal less than two minutes into the game, the Rangers were off to one of their fastest starts of the season. A third odd-man opportunity soon followed, and it appeared the Rangers just might be able to beat the Hurricanes at their own game, with speed turning defensemen inside out and causing turnovers repeatedly.
But the Rangers couldn't sustain this high level of play. The Hurricanes, even without two key injured defensemen — Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere — and leading goal scorer Seth Jarvis , turned the tide significantly before the first period got away from them. They outshot the Rangers 13-5 in the opening period, and pulled even with their own power-play goal.
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Though the Rangers evened things out in the second period, and took a 2-1 lead into the third, they chased much of the time and relied on Shesterkin's brilliant play to save them. Carolina, a notoriously high-volume team, out-attempted New York 82-39 overall, and held a 36-17 advantage in scoring chances 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick . Carolina's expected goal share was 68.03 percent 5v5.
The Rangers lost for just the third time when scoring first (15-2-1), due in large part to being unable to sustain their excellent start Monday night.
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