The Rangers celebrated their 25 year anniversary of that special 1994 team last night, bringing all members of the club out on the ice to be honored. The current Rangers team was out to honor them as well, and then promptly went out against the Canes and got blanked. This is a little expected when there are ceremonies like this, as the Rangers sit and wait instead of staying warm.
The coolest part of this game was the 1994 throwback intro and graphics, and then the player interviews and guests in the booth throughout. Plus we had a Sam and JD reunion! The tribute to John Amirante was touching as well.
Canes 1, Rangers 0
Greg McKegg dishes the puck off to Saku Maenalenen at the blue line, then promptly cuts to the net. Adam McQuaid’s attention is draw to Maenalenen, which it shouldn’t be as he should be covering McKegg going to the net (Ryan Strome had Maenalenen from a not-threatening area). Since he doesn’t that job goes to Brady Skjei, which leaves Warren Foegele open in the high slot for the slot line pass and goal. It’s a nice play by the Canes,
Canes 2, Rangers 0
Andrei Svechnikov empty netter.
Canes 3, Rangers 0
Brock McGinn empty netter.
Shot Heatmap
For the first time in a while, the Rangers didn’t control the game tempo. That could be because of the ceremony lag, but Carolina is notoriously good at controlling the tempo. They just don’t have the high-end skill needed, both up front and in net, to take that next step. There were a decent amount of slot chances as well, with the Rangers giving up 14 high-danger chances and 28 scoring chances out of 50 total shot attempts. That’s not a great ratio. Oh well.
The next two games might get rough, with the Rangers hosting playoff bound Toronto on Sunday then flying to Winnipeg to face the playoff bound Jets on Tuesday. All but one game for the rest of the month (Devils) will be against teams in the playoff hunt. This could get ugly.
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