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AP Photo/Kathy Willens

The Rangers and Hurricanes alternated goals last night, and luckily for the Rangers they scored first and it was an odd number of goals. They came out with a 6-3 win after leading 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. This wasn’t a pretty game by any means, as both teams had extended periods of sloppy play. But it was the Jimmy Vesey hat trick that left us all smiling last night.

Neither goalie was outstanding, but Alex Georgiev was certainly better than Scott Darling in this one. That said, Georgiev did make some nice stops to close out the game. The constant pressure was nice to see, even if the potential for a higher draft pick was on the back of everyone’s minds. Also on the back of everyone’s mind is the injury to Tony DeAngelo, who had a gruesome spill in the boards. Legs don’t bend like that in that place.

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Canes 0

Neal Pionk’s shot off the face off went wide and took a big carom to the front. Mats Zuccarello was there, getting a step on Justin Faulk after he came across from the far boards, and got to it before Scott Darling could get to the other post.

Canes 1, Rangers 1

Jesper Fast turned the puck over in the offensive zone, which led to an attack for the Canes. There was some luck involved here, as the initial shot by Sebastian Aho was mostly blocked by Brady Skjei. Tony DeAngelo had the puck kind of bounce off him right to Teuvo Teravainen who put the puck through Georgiev’s legs.

Rangers 2, Canes 1

Another faceoff win, this time by Pavel Buchnevich. Buch went forward with the puck, which apparently surprised the Canes. Jimmy Vesey went to the net, and Buch centered the puck hoping for a bounce. He got it, as the puck bounced of Trevor van Riemsdyk and Vesey got his stick on it to get the puck over Darling.

Canes 2, Rangers 2

Goals off the faceoff were apparently a thing last night. Jeff Skinner collected the puck off the FO win, then circled to the high slot and put a wrister on net. It looks like Lee Stempniak got a stick on the initial shot, then buried the rebound. He got well in behind John Gilmour, who was watching the puck and didn’t have his stick on the ice. Bad play here by him.

Rangers 3, Canes 2

Another faceoff win. This time Buchnevich’s shot from the point gets to Vlad Namestnikov in front, who deflected it by Darling.

Canes 3, Rangers 3

The Canes had the Blueshirt penalty killers scrambling for a while, and the puck eventually got to Victor Rask at the point. Great shot off the post and in.

Rangers 4, Canes 3

Buchnevich and Vesey combined to force TVR and Derek Ryan into turnovers. The puck wound up on Vesey’s stick down the wing, and he roofed it over Darling. Great shot.

Rangers 5, Canes 3

Zuccarello empty netter. His 100th goal.

Rangers 6, Canes 3

Vesey empty netter for the hat trick, the first of his career.

People are probably going to complain that the Blueshirts won and possibly hurt their draft standing. But honestly, last night was fun to watch. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t the best game in the world. But I enjoyed watching that game. It’s been a while.

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