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| Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC |
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Game Notes:
The Carolina Hurricanes host the New York Rangers at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday.
It isthe second of three games between the teams this season as the Hurricanes fell to the Rangers 2-1 in a shootout on Mar. 18 at Madison Square Garden.
The Hurricanes’ 5-0 shutout loss to the Lightning on Thursday marked the team’s largest losing margin this season, and the team's current six-game home losing streak (3/14-4/4: 0-6-0) is its longest since the team lost a franchise record seven straight home games from Dec. 27, 2002-Jan. 20, 2003 (0-6-0-1).
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Commentary for each period will follow on the hour.
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Before the puck drops:
Few words to describe Hurricanes’ 5-0 loss to Lightning
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1st Period
An energetic period of play from both teams as the Hurricanes outshot the Rangers 14-12 and outhit them 13-11.
This one has been a very physical affair right from the start.
At even strength, the Hurricanes have kept the New York defensemen looking over their shoulders as their forecheck has been more agressive than it's been in quite a while.
The man-advantage wasn't productive for either team as Carolina ended 0-2 while New York went 0-for-1 on the power play.
Rangers keeper Henrik Lundqvist made several key saves on shots from forwards Jeff Skinner, Zac Dalpe and defenseman Jay Harrison, to name a few.
Hurricanes netminder Dan Ellis was kept just as busy as Rangers captain Ryan Callahan and Mats Zuccarello had shots stopped to keep this game scoreless aftter one period.
End of Period: Carolina 0, New York 0
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2nd Period
It took the Rangers only two minutes to finally put the puck past Dan Ellis as Derek Stepan scored a power play goal to break the scoreless game at that point.
Just 31 seconds later, on a botched breakout setup, New York's Callahan picked the puck away from Ellis behind the Carolina net as he bumped with his own defenseman, allowing the Rangers captain to score on an empty net.
Lundqvist continued his dominance in the Rangers net as he continued to stymie the Hurricanes from all angles and no matter how far they shot the puck from.
Leading 2-0, New York was afforded another power play as defenseman Tim Gleason was sent to the penalty box for high sticking.
As a result, Rick Nash beat Ellis from the high slot on a spin-around move after getting the pass from the point and extending the Rangers lead to 3-0 with 8:41 to go in the period.
Any energy that the Hurricanes had from ending the first period, did not return for any consistent period of time throughout the period.
When Carolina did exhibit a few significant bursts of energy with its offense, it was Lundqvist who kept it in check as New York continue to control play for the majority of it, and outshot Carolina 18-14.
End of Period: New York 3, Carolina 0
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3rd Period
Justin Peters started the period in place of Dan Ellis.
The Hurricanes started the period with much more zip and peppered Lundqvist with numerous shots around the 17-minute mark, but they still couldn't get the puck behind him.
New York's energy level was still high and applied consistantly at both ends of the ice, challenging Peters when they could at even strength and on the power play
Facing the risk of being shut out for two consecutive games, the Hurricanes' Zac Dalpe finally beat Lundqvist high, over his glove hand at 9:27 in.
The play was set up after Eric Staal established possession in the Rangers zone along the boards to the left of Lundqvist where he then slid the puck into the corner where Jeff Skinner looked to find Dalpe open in the slot, for the one-time shot that beats the big goalkeeper.
With less than 10 minutes to play, Carolina had another power play opportunity that resulted in more quality shot attempts on net, but Lundqvist and the Rangers continued to stop the puck from crossing the goal line.
By the end, the Rangers held the Hurricanes off to secure a win after playing a back-to-back while the Hurricanes ended up losing their seventh consecutive game at home.
Final: New York 4, Carolina 1
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