rangers hurricanes 2015

The New York Rangers made us sweat last night, escaping Carolina with a 3-2 shootout win over the Hurricanes. It was the third time that the Rangers had gone to the shootout with the Canes in the five game regular season series, and last night’s win gave the Rangers a season series sweep of the woeful Canes. But this game wasn’t without drama, as the Rangers went into their usual shell in the third period, trying to protect the one goal lead. This time it backfired, and the Canes scored to send it to overtime.

Watching the Rangers struggle against a bottom feeder wasn’t pleasant, but the Rangers are without a top-six defenseman and a top-six forward, thus need to scramble their lines and tread water. The only real problem with last night’s game was the shell, which the Rangers have been prone to going to lately. It’s not the best strategy, both for future success and future health of the fans. But they won, so there’s that.

On to the goals:

Canes 1, Rangers 0

Solid gap control by McDonagh.

Solid gap control by McDonagh.

Cam Talbot simply missed this one. Elias Lindholm had a little room when he got the puck to enter the zone, but Ryan McDonagh closed the gap pretty quickly. Bad goals happen sometimes.

Rangers 1, Canes 1

Good job getting in behind the defense by Miller.

Good job getting in behind the defense by Miller.

This appeared to be a set faceoff play that wound up with a bit of a flukey goal. Derick Brassard won the faceoff back to Mats Zuccarello, who held the puck for a second while J.T. Miller slipped in behind the defense. Zuccarello got the puck to Miller, but the puck appeared to go off his stick, catching Anton Khudobin off guard.

Rangers 2, Canes 1

That's some bad defense.

That’s some bad defense.

Carl Hagelin chipped the puck out of the zone to Kevin Hayes at the Canes blue line. Hayes gained the zone as Jesper Fast cut to the slot, recognizing that he had his man beat by a country mile. Hayes’ pass was a little behind Fast, who spun to receive the pass, then spun again and ripped it over Khudobin.

Canes 2, Rangers 2

Liles won't score from there, but the pass was open.

Liles won’t score from there, but the pass was open.

Dominic Moore was unable to clear the zone on the penalty kill, allowing the Canes to keep the zone and generate some more chances. Eventually, John-Michael Liles was able to get the puck from behind the net to Ryan Murphy at the point, who had an extra second to wind up and shoot because Moore was just a shade too low. Considering the crowd in front of the net, Talbot stood no chance.

USAT/Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The game was somewhat even until five minutes into the third when the Rangers went into their shell. I really hate the shell.

Scoring Chances:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

More shell effects here in the third period. Otherwise, the Rangers really owned the quality chance department.

Individual SAT/Corsi:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

This chart is indicative of what we see in the attempts chart above, just broken down at the individual level. Fast had a great game, and it’s backed up here, as he’s the only positive puck possession player on this chart.

Shot Locations:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

More shell effects.

Shift Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

This is where I’ve been saying “typical Alain Vigneault matchups” a lot, but with the new defense pairings, I can’t say that anymore. Girardi and Yandle got second pairing bitting, I think, getting the Gerbe/Jordan Staal line for the most part. McDonagh and Staal got the Eric Staal line. Although, I really don’t know if one is considered to be Carolina’s “top line” or not, since they are both pretty skilled. Also: Notice that the Dwyer/Terry/McClement trio didn’t get any ice time at all in the final 15 minutes of the game. That’s pretty funny.

It wasn’t pretty, which seems to be the theme lately for a lot of Ranger wins, but they did get the win. It would be nice to see them continually pressure the opposition in the third with a lead though. These shells will kill them in the playoffs. Perhaps they are going to the shell as they deal with multiple injuries. But it’s a bad habit. Or maybe they just wanted all of us to see that absurd Zuccarello shootout goal.

Share: 

More About: