filip chytil
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Rangers are officially in spoiler mode. The Blueshirts came into last night’s game against a Carolina team needing a win and came away with the two points the Hurricanes needed. Henrik Lundqvist was the story of this one, stopping a flurry of shots in the third period to preserve a 2-1 lead, including a final two minute firing squad with Curtis McElhinney on the bench.

Connor Brickley got his first goal as a Ranger on a goal that was overturned by video review. Vlad Namestnikov got the game winner. Aside from those two goals, the entire game was played in the Rangers’ end, with Carolina getting a whopping 74 (!) shot attempts -half of them legitimate scoring chances– to the Rangers’ 42. Lundqvist made 43 saves in this, so he had more saves than the Rangers had shot attempts.

That’s how good Henrik Lundqvist still is. Let that sink in.

Hurricanes 1, Rangers 0

Jordan Martinook made the cut to the net, beating Kevin Hayes by a step and getting the inside track to receive the pass from Dougie Hamilton in the slot. Lundqvist got Martinook’s first attempt, but Martinook’s step on Hayes allowed him to get to the rebound and put it over Hank.

Rangers 1, Canes 1

This is what happens when you charge the net. Filip Chytil got the puck on net, and Brickley was there to have a lucky bounce go off him and into the net.

Rangers 2, Canes 1

This isn’t a powerplay goal technically, but it is for all intents and purposes. Tony DeAngelo made a nice fake before getting the puck over the slot line to Pavel Buchnevich. His shot was stopped, but the rebound chaos wound up on Namestnikov’s stick for the winner.

Shot Heatmap

This is basically what you’d expect from a 74-42 shot attempt game when half are scoring chances. That’s a lot of shots from in close.

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