The New York Rangers bent, but didn't break yet again as they lost Adam Fox and Filip Chytil during tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
NEW YORK, NY -- The New York Rangers had a very gutsy win against a divisional rival in the Carolina Hurricanes. It wasn't pretty, but they found a way once again to extend their win streak.
LINEUP:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Chytil-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Trocheck-Wheeler
Goodrow-Bonino-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Schneider
Shesterkin
1ST PERIOD:
The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. They took a too many men penalty a minute and thirty-eight seconds into the game. This allowed the league's second-best power play to cook in the opening minutes of the contest.
Like a tale as old as time, Chris Kreider would convert on the man-advantage off of a great feed from Artemi Panarin. Panarin's point streak is now at 10 games.
The Rangers would take their own too many men penalty shortly after, resulting in a Seth Jarvis game-tying goal.
There was a scary moment when Adam Fox and Sebastian Aho collided. It appeared that Aho stuck his leg out, going knee-on-knee with Fox, causing him to go to the locker room.
"I didn't like the hit." - Peter Laviolette
Fox going to the locker room gave Erik Gustafsson a look at quarterbacking the first power play unit. It was clear that Fox was missed.
I had the chance to ask Laviolette about the difference between having Fox as opposed to Gustafsson as the quarterback of the first unit. Laviolette told me "It's a little bit different. Gustafsson's been a first unit power play guy for most of his career. Obviously there's gonna be a little transition there because of the hands, but Gus is more than capable. If we need him to, he'll be more than capable of jumping in there."
2ND PERIOD:
Fox would miss the remainder of the game due to a lower-body injury.
Obviously, this changed the tone of the game.
It seemed that the referees had missed a ton of calls on the home team, which led to people speaking out on social media.
Things would continue to get uglier for the Rangers in the second period. Filip Chytil was missing from the bench for a bit. This left the team down to 11 forwards and 5 defensemen.
The Rangers were outshot 9-3 in the middle frame and had absolutely nothing going for them. The Hurricanes found their legs and were hounding the Rangers in all three zones. Aside from a 3-on-2 rush from Panarin, Chytil and Lafreniere, the Rangers didn't generate much.
3RD PERIOD:
The Rangers would miss Chytil and Fox in the third period.
I asked Coach Laviolette about how the communication amplifies for the third period when you go down a couple of players. Laviolette shared "It was more between periods. I thought we needed more bite in our game. From that second period not going our way, we needed a good response. It's a good team we're playing, they're gonna take their licks, but I thought they had too much time and we were a little too slow...not moving our feet. So just things that we addressed between the second and third period and that was what I'd like to see. We came out in the third and I thought that we got back on the attack offensively."
I also had the chance to speak to Jacob Trouba about the communication on the bench. Trouba told me "You kind of get the rotation as it goes. I was mostly playing with lefties with Foxy out so it's not too much of a conversation with me. When you get two lefties out there, that's probably when there's more talk, but just knowing who's going for who and when, that's really it. When you're out there you're just playing hockey."
The home team needed someone to step up and make a big play. In a moment of need, it was the captain who made a great individual effort to get below the goal line before finding Will Cuylle streaking to the net to pound home a feed through the slot.
When describing the play, Trouba jokingly said "I almost lost the puck at the blue line and gave up a breakaway haha."
Even before scoring that goal, Cuylle had a pop in his step for most of the night.
The Hurricanes started to make a push toward the end of the third, but Igor Shesterkin stood tall and held on for the 2-1 victory.
The Rangers have now extended their win-streak to six games as they head to Minnesota for a battle with the Wild on Saturday night.