The Carolina Hurricanes suffered another tough loss on Sunday, March 20, falling 2-0 at home to the New York Rangers.
The Hurricanes (41-15-6) outplayed the Rangers (40-18-5) in nearly every capacity except the one that matters most: goals. Despite outshooting New York 44-18 and out-hitting it 39-16, the Canes simply couldn’t find twine in their fourth consecutive loss.
“[Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev] played great, and that’s end of story,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I don’t know what else we could have done other than put pucks in the net. Everything we wanted to do, for the most part, we did. We just didn’t get rewarded tonight.”
On the other hand, Carolina didn’t make it easy for the Rangers to score either. The Hurricanes blocked seven shots over the course of the evening and never allowed more than eight shots in a single period, letting up just three, seven and eight in the three respective periods.
Nevertheless, the Rangers eventually found the net in the tail end of the second period. Jacob Trouba fired a shot from the blue line that Chris Kreider redirected past goaltender Frederik Andersen. It was the only goal Andersen would give up on the night as Frank Vatrano scored the Rangers’ other goal on an empty net in the final minute of the game.
Georgiev held down the Rangers net on the other end of the ice, saving all 44 shots to shut out the Canes at home. Georgiev stood tall in net even in the face of three Carolina power plays, stopping all seven shots while his team was a man down.
“I’ve got to give him credit,” said center Sebastian Aho. “He played a great game. But we had too many good chances not to score. It’s on us. We’ve got to be more efficient when we get the puck on our tape.”
The Hurricanes’ penalty kill was up to the task as well, outshooting New York 3-2 in a pair of penalty kills. Still, the Canes’ inability to get past Georgiev, whether on the power play, penalty kill or at even strength, marked the end of a 14-game point streak at home for Carolina.
Carolina got a silver lining out of the game, however, as defenseman Tony DeAngelo made his first appearance since leaving Feb. 21’s 4-3 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers due to an upper-body injury. Brind’Amour gave DeAngelo credit for playing well after such a long absence.
“For coming off the shelf for a month — one practice, really, with us — I thought he was really good,” Brind’Amour said.
The Canes will have their next opportunity to get back on track on Tuesday, March 22 when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in PNC Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
