2022-23 Regular Season, Game 38: Hurricanes (25-6-6) at New York Rangers

No team in the league is playing better than the Hurricanes are right now. It took a little bit extra for the team to get to extend their win and point streaks on New Year's Day against the New Jersey Devils. The fourth line drove the bus for the Canes for most of the game with Derek Stepan scoring twice and Stefan Noesen setting him up twice. The Devils seemed to have an answer to everything the Canes did and they'd find themselves in the lead with just over six minutes to play. The power play came to the Canes' rescue as Martin Necas whipped one past Mackenzie Blackwood to tie it and force overtime, thus extending the Canes' point streak to 17. Overtime featured plenty of great chances for both sides but both Blackwood and Antti Raanta made some huge stops to prevent anyone from breaking the tie, so a shootout would be required. Andrei Svechnikov scored the first and only goal of the shootout as Raanta stopped all three Devils to extend the win streak to 11 games. The win also pushed the Canes' lead in the division to seven points over the Devils but it didn't come easily. The start of the year doesn't get any easier as now the Canes prepare for the Rangers with some sweet revenge on their minds. 

Projected Lines/Pairs

Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Martin Necas

Teuvo Teravainen-Paul Stastny-Seth Jarvis

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Derek Stepan-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan-Jalen Chatfield

Pyotr Kochetkov

Antti Raanta

Injuries/Scratches- Dylan Coghlan

IR- Ondrej Kase (concussion), Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury), Max Pacioretty (LTIR- Achilles)

For the first time in two weeks, Pyotr Kochetkov will be back in the net for the Hurricanes. He was last seen on December 20 in the 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils and the reason for him being out, other than the outstanding play of Antti Raanta in the last five games en route to being the league's third star last week, is likely due to a save he made in the second period of that game. He's earned the team at least one point in his last ten appearances but I'm interested to see if there is any rust early. Other than that, the lines look the same as the Canes look for their 12th win in a row. 

Tonight's Opponent: New York Rangers (20-12-6, 46 Points, 4th in the Metropolitan Division)

While they aren't fighting with the Hurricanes for the top of the division like they did last season, the Rangers are right in the thick of a loaded Metropolitan Division. They are part of the giant cluster behind the Canes in the division and currently occupy the first Wild Card spot. Like the Canes, the Rangers had a solid November, going 9-3-2 with a seven-game win streak that featured wins against some of the west's best, Toronto, and New Jersey. Since losing that win streak, they're 2-2-1, but they started 2023 with a victory on Sunday night. Six Rangers recorded multi-point games, led by two goals from Mika Zibanejad, as New York started the new year on the right foot with a win in Sunrise over the Florida Panthers. It's been the same band of leaders that are putting the team on their backs. Artemi Panarin paces the team with 33 assists, sixth-most in the league, and 43 points. Zibanejad, after his two-goal performance, leads the team with 18 goals, one more than last season's 50-goal scorer, Chris Kreider. Adam Fox is right behind Panarin with 30 assists, seventh-most in the league, and is fourth for all defensemen with 37 points. Former Hurricane Vincent Trocheck is fitting in nicely with his new team after earning a huge contract, third on the team in goals (13) and fourth on the team in points (30). The reigning Vezina winner has taken a small step back but is still performing as one of the best goalies in the league. This is one of the most exciting teams in the league and there is a lot of hockey to be played between these two powerhouses. 

Last Season v. Carolina- Between the regular season and postseason, the Canes and Rangers met 11 times in 2022. The Canes took three of the four games during the season, including both games at Madison Square Garden in April. They actually met for the first time later last season, waiting until late January to come together in Raleigh. Sebastian Aho and Tony DeAngelo had three points each as the Canes put up six goals on Alexander Georgiev in a 6-3 victory for the Canes. Georgiev returned the favor in March by posting a 44-save shutout as Kreider scored his 41st goal and Frank Vatrano added the empty-net goal in a 2-0 win for the Rangers. The final two meetings at MSG were between two teams fighting for the top spot in the division. In the third game, Aho posted another three-point night and the Canes provided some separation with a 4-2 victory over Shesterkin. It was only fitting that the Canes would wrap up the division against the team chasing them. Pyotr Kochetkov, playing his first few games in the NHL, got the start and though the Rangers made it close in the final minutes, the Canes held on to a 4-3 win to officially clinch the division. They would meet again in the second round of the playoffs. Both teams had just endured seven-game series. The home team won the first six games with Ian Cole scoring in overtime in Game 1, Antti Raanta posting a shutout in Game 2, Shesterkin holding the Canes to one goal in both Games 3 and 4, Raanta doing the same in Game 5, and the Rangers' offense coming to life with five goals in Game 6. With Game 7 in Raleigh, the Rangers would reverse the script and bring it to the Canes with a 6-2 win to end the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

New York's Starting Goalie: Igor Shesterkin (17-6-5, 2.41 GAA, .918 SV%)- After Jaroslav Halak earned the win against Florida, the Rangers will have the franchise goalie in the net tonight. Shesterkin is top five in the league in wins and GAA currently, though slightly off of the pace that won him the Vezina last season. He's dropped his last two decisions, though his last start on December 29th was a shootout loss he made 39 saves in. Shesterkin lost both his starts to the Canes during the regular season, though he does own a postseason series victory over them. 

New York Player to Watch: Chris Kreider- I usually like to avoid putting top scorers in this spot but I'm making an exception for this one. Kreider terrorized the Canes all season, scoring in all four games in the regular season and adding three goals in the postseason, including two goals in Game 7. He's unlikely to put together the same season he did last year, scoring 52 goals, but he's put together some good numbers this season with 17. He's slowed down a little lately, with just five points in his last 11 games, but two points in the win over Florida on Sunday might have him back on the right path. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 7:24- Brent Burns (5) (assisted by Paul Stastny (9) & Jaccob Slavin (9))

(NYR) 16:26- Jacob Trouba (3) PP (assisted by Vitali Kravtsov (2) & Filip Chytil (10))

(CAR) 16:42- Martin Necas (17) (assisted by Andrei Svechnikov (14) & Paul Stastny (10))

2nd Period

(NYR) 16:45- Mika Zibanejad (18) PP (unassisted)

(CAR) 17:14- Jalen Chatfield (2) (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (11))

3rd Period

(NYR) 0:36- Artemi Panarin (11) (assisted by Ryan Lindgren (12) & Adam Fox (31))

(NYR) 10:27- K'Andre Miller (3) (assisted by Mika Zibanejad (24) & Kappo Kakko (9))

(NYR) 18:57- Filip Chytil (9) EN PP (assisted by K'Andre Miller (15) & Jacob Trouba (10))

Let's Talk About the Game

Every streak is destined to be broken and the bell has officially tolled on the Canes' streaks. It wasn't a very pretty game by any stretch of the imagination and the Rangers did to the Canes in the third period was very few have been able to do this season. I'm not bitter about this loss at all, though I had forgotten what losing felt like since it's been a few weeks. I'm not going to go into much depth on every goal like I normally do, but I do want to highlight some specific moments. The first goal is all about hard work from the Stastny line and it ends with Brent Burns jumping and just poking the puck enough to beat Igor Shesterkin to get the Canes on the board early. Each team benefitted from lucky bounces, specifically Jacob Trouba on his goal in the first period on the power play and Jalen Chatfield's goal in the second period that bounced off of a Rangers' stick. There were some pretty goals as well. Martin Necas buried a beautiful pass from Andrei Svechnikov to quickly respond to Trouba's goal and K'Andre Miller had a beautiful deflection goal that would eventually serve as the game-winner. The Canes were a resilient bunch in the first two periods. They scored 16 and 29 seconds after the Rangers scored to tie the game, playing from in front for most of the 40 minutes. The difference was the third period. Pyotr Kochetkov had some good moments in the game but the Rangers got two very soft goals that beat him five-hole. The goal from Artemi Panarin 36 seconds into the third period was the game-changer. Kochetkov didn't see the shot, so I won't chastise him for it, but this one ideally stays out of the net and doesn't allow the Rangers to build a period. The Rangers earned the win and I won't deny it. It stings for sure but that's why it's good that the Canes built a nice lead in the division. 

A lot of the discourse among Canes fans after this game is focused on officiating and some of the calls tonight. I feel strongly that poor officiating doesn't always factor into why a team loses a game and I believe this to be the case tonight too. That being said, the officiating tonight was terrible. I went back through the penalties from tonight's game and there might be one legitimate penalty that each team was called for tonight. If we want to go penalty-for-penalty we can. The hooking call on Sebastian Aho was weak and it led to the Trouba goal. Vincent Trocheck's cross-checking penalty early in the second period was soft. Chris Kreider's tripping call was a penalty, but the penalty given to Burns during the same sequence to negate a potential 5-on-3 is consequential, especially if the Rangers touched the puck before it happens. I honestly missed the tripping call on Jalen Chatfield but it sounds like Tripp Tracy didn't love it. I also thought the tripping call on Miller was soft. The hooking call on Burns is arguably the most egregious of the night because Panarin grabs his stick to get the call and it leads to Mika Zibanejad's power-play goal. The DOGPOG penalty on Svechnikov was clear as day. The Panarin hook on Fast was also pretty clear. The final call on Jordan Martinook for playing the puck with a broken stick was also bad. It effectively ends the game as the Rangers score the empty-net goal. By my count, that's three legit penalties, two for the Rangers and one for the Canes. Instead, it was 6-4 Canes and it led to three goals for the Rangers that likely get knocked off of the board under normal circumstances. A game of this magnitude shouldn't be decided anywhere other than 5-on-5. But, that's not how tonight played out and we're going to have to live with that. 

At the end of the day, the Canes lost a game and that's okay. They weren't going to win out and never lose another game, though that would've been awesome. It took a hostile environment against a hungry team to get the job done. I'm almost a little relieved because now we can stop talking about it. We can get back to playing hockey and take it one game at a time. This team has rewritten franchise history and it's great to acknowledge that. Now we're back at zero and the new streak begins by coming back home to play Nashville on Thursday night. It was a rough night and not everything went our way. I hope that the injury that forced Stefan Noesen out in the first period isn't serious and he's good to go for the next one. He had been playing so well and is a key part of the power play. While it wasn't all roses tonight, the Stastny line played very well tonight. They were the most effective line for the Canes tonight by a mile. I'll admit that losing the streaks to the Rangers sucks. I don't like the Rangers, so giving them any semblance of self-satisfaction irks me. I guess it's a good thing we play them three more times this season.

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Jalen Chatfield (Goal)

The Chatfield-de Haan pairing was the Canes' best based purely on the numbers. Both finished +2 (take that for what it's worth) and Chatfield managed to score his second goal of the season with the help of a Rangers' stick. It was a big one at the time as it was a quick response to a tying goal for the Rangers and it's always fun to celebrate a Chatfield, especially since it's only happened twice now. 

Second Star- Paul Stasny (2 Assists)

For the first time as a Hurricane, Stastny recorded a multi-point game and he was the only player to do so tonight. He made a key play on the opening goal to tie up a stick and use his skate to get the puck to Burns, then he helped the Canes respond quickly on the Necas goal with a secondary helper. His line was great tonight and I think he's found a perfect spot between two young guns. 

First Star- Martin Necas (Goal)

It only took him 38 games to set a new career-high in goals as he labeled his 17th of the season past Shesterkin late in the first period. He was all over the ice tonight, doing everything he could to expand the team's lead when they had one. His five shots were a game-high and he had some really good chances. He couldn't quite find the magic a second time but the one was pretty. 

What's Next

As I said earlier, the Nashville Predators are next on the schedule as they meet in Raleigh on Thursday night for a cross-conference meeting. They beat up on the Montreal Canadiens tonight, beating them 6-2, at least they were when I wrote this. It'll be the first time we see Nino Niederreiter in a Nashville uniform and he's sure to get a warm reception in his first game back. He had three points for the Predators in their win tonight. The Canes will close their busy week on Saturday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio. They were shut out tonight by the Ottawa Senators and they'll play host to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. These are two very winnable games to get the Canes back in the win column after their loss tonight.