The New York Rangers continued rolling along, winning their fourth
straight, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 Thursday night. With the current four game streak, New York
is now 11-2 in their last 13 games to hold an overall record of 14-5-3. The Rangers are currently three points out of
first in the division, conference and league with four games in hand on the
Penguins.
Tonight had the makings of a trap game following three big
wins over some of the elite teams in the league. The Rangers looked like they might fall into
that trap giving up a goal just 35 seconds into the game, but the resiliency of
the team showed right away as Ryan Callahan tied the game 1:07 later with a
power play goal.
New York’s resiliency was tested again at the end of the
first when Jeff Skinner scored with just 8.7 seconds left in the first, but
there was no fold in the Rangers game.
New York fired back in the second period scoring three times in a 4:53
span to take control of the game. Ryan
McDonagh scored the first one on a shot from the left side that deflected off
Carolina’s Derek Joslin to tie the game 2-2.
Marian Gaborik gave New York the lead when he took an Artem Anisimov
pass for a one-timer from the slot for his 12th goal of the season. Gaborik reversed roles on the Rangers next
goal when he found Sean Avery in the faceoff circle for a beautiful shot that
beat Cam Ward upstairs to make it 4-2 New York.
The Rangers did give up another late period goal when Derek
Joslin had his shot deflect off Ruslan Fedotenko’s stick and between Martin Biron’s
legs with just 2:13 left in the second.
Carolina could not tie the game and Michael Sauer gave the Rangers back
the two goal cushion with his first of the season 5:42 into the third.
- Having 14 different players record a point shows that everyone on this team is doing their part right now
- Biron was shaky at times, but also made some huge saves to secure the win
- Hagelin continues to impress with each game showcasing speed, grit along the boards and solid play on both ends
- Avery played an excellent game tonight and is earning more and more trust from Tortorella.
- The power play is getting their act together and threatening with regularity even when they don't score. Don't look now, but tonight marked the fourth straight game with a PPG.
- Watching Mitchell take a puck to the face and Stepan get hurt diving for a shot shows how everyone is willing to win
