NY Rangers goal breakdown: Carolina controls the game, but Rangers capitalize on mistakes for 5-3 win

The Rangers came out of their holiday break looking to continue a streak of solid play and doing a better job of controlling the game/play. The Hurricanes make it difficult for opponents to do that, but the Rangers found a way to win anyway. This was a typical Rangers/Canes game where the Canes controlled the game but the Rangers won anyway.

The Blueshirts jumped out to a 4-1 lead halfway through the second, but let Carolina make it interesting with a late goal in the second and an early goal in the third. Ryan Strome added an insurance tally halfway through the third and the Blueshirts held on for the win.

Canes 1, Rangers 0

This is a very ill-advised pass by Brady Skjei. Not much else to say about this.

Rangers 1, Canes 1

What a pass by Kreider to Zibanejad here. Wow.

Rangers 2, Canes 1

Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are sprung for a two on one after forcing a turnover at the blue line. Zibanejad with the pump fake and the dish to Kreider for the easy goal.

Rangers 3, Canes 1

The Ranger capitalize again by getting to a loose puck before the Canes could. Filip Chytil fed Artemi Panarin who needed two swipes at it before burying it. Look at the skill required by Panarin here to roof the puck from in his skates.

Rangers 4, Canes 1

Tony DeAngelo’s shot from the mid-point didn’t get through, but the Rangers got a lucky bounce on the powerplay and the puck went right to Zibanejad, who promptly made it 4-1.

Rangers 4, Canes 2

Adam Fox mishandled the puck in the air right at the blue line, and then the Canes turned the rush and Brett Pesce finished a cross-ice pass from Lucas Wallmark. In an ideal world, that pass across is stopped by Ryan Lindgren, He got caught a little flat footed once the turnover happened and then moved to Wallmark instead of stopping the pass.

Rangers 4, Canes 3

Credit Sebastian Aho here for circling from behind the goal line to the high slot to stay undetected as everyone crashed the net for the rebound, then tucking in the loose puck. Three Rangers were there, but once the puck was behind them, Aho wasn’t going to miss.

Rangers 5, Canes 3

The angle here is a little rough, but it looks like D2 here cheated to Panarin in the corner and forgot about Ryan Strome cutting to the slot. But watch Panarin at the beginning of this gif, he take a quick glance to the slot as he’s entering the zone, right between the top of the circle and the blue line. He already knows what he’s going to do with the puck before he gets to the corner. He takes one more quick look to make sure Strome is there, and then threads the needle.

Shot Heatmap

The Canes controlled the shot attempts here, as expected. There’s a lot in close too. Henrik Lundqvist had to make a bunch of difficult saves in this one, so let’s not discount his performance.

Skater Results

Given how the Canes controlled play, this is basically what to expect from a CF perspective (left). The xGF chart is a little better. But let’s just call out Ryan Strome and the game he had. Solid all around.

The Rangers lost Brendan Lemieux in this one, so Steven Fogarty has been recalled in advance of tonight’s game against Toronto. This was a good win against a good team that controlled the play. I’d like to see more wins where the Rangers control the play, but no one complains about a win.