The Carolina Hurricanes poor form continued Monday night in Madison Square Garden as they fell 4-3 to the New York Rangers despite scoring the final two goals of the game.
The Rangers (17-6-2) dominated the first half of the game, going up 4-1 midway through the second period, but almost saw the lead slip away after the Hurricanes (8-12-4) wrapped up the scoring with the final two goals of the game.
The first goal came just a minute into the first period through Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, who rifled one into the top corner immediately after a faceoff in the Hurricanes half of the ice. The goal came just five seconds after Hurricanes defender Brett Pesce was given two minutes for tripping.
Rangers forward Oscar Lindberg doubled their advantage late in the first period after a beautiful display of quick passing cut the Canes defense wide open.
The first period was marked by capitalization of chances by the Rangers. The Canes led the shot count 10-6, but both goals came on New York power plays.
Jordan Staal marked his 200th game for the Hurricanes with a goal early in the second period, cutting the lead to just one.
The Rangers responded quickly as forward Chris Kreider found the net from almost an impossible angle, a shot that caught Canes netminder Cam Ward completely off-guard.
The Rangers scored again late in the second period after Ward’s horrendous clearance fell straight to forward Kevin Hayes, who then laid the puck off to forward Derick Brassard with a wide open net in front of him.
The Hurricanes did manage to get two back, one through forward Victor Rask late in the second and the other through forward Chris Terry midway through the third, but the late surge was not enough to power the Canes past the Rangers.
November for the Canes has been a month to forget, as they have only managed to salvage three wins in the span of 30 days. The loss Monday night was their 10th of the month.
The Rangers snapped a three-game losing skid against a team they love to play as the win against the Canes marked their 11th in a row at Madison Square Garden. 18 of the last 19 match-ups have gone New York’s way.
The Hurricanes will return home Thursday night to face the New Jersey Devils at PNC Arena, the first of three consecutive home games for Carolina.
