Those Rangers fans who braved the ice storm in Raleigh Friday night to see their team play on the road and made up the majority of the crowd at PNC Arena were justly rewarded for their effort and loyalty as the Rangers skated to a convincing 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
It marked the first time since November 21-23 that the Rangers–coming off Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden–have won consecutive games, a span of two months. The win was also the Rangers ninth straight against the Hurricanes, and third this season.
“Everywhere we go it’s amazing the Rangers cult, tons of fans, and a lot of times they’re louder than the opposition, great fans,” head coach Alain Vigneault said of the support his team received under such conditions Friday night. “This is my third organization, three great organizations, but this fan base is the best I’ve ever seen.”
J.T. Miller scored twice in the second period to continue his recent strong play, while Ryan McDonagh and Keith Yandle also scored for New York, who have now won three of their last four games overall and two of their last three on the road. Henrik Lundqvist finished with 30 saves in backstopping the victory.
“Even though the weather was tough (our fans) showed up, it shows the passion and dedication of the Rangers fans,” stated Lundqvist. “Even though the weather was terrible they’re coming to the game to watch us, so we appreciated that.”
A simply terrific solo effort by McDonagh gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at the 14:01 mark of the opening period, and prompted the Blueshirts Faithful in attendance to chant The Rangers Goal Song afterwards. Anticipating perfectly, McDonagh picked off a John-Michael Liles pass at the red line and then burst into the Hurricanes zone, weaving to left wing, before zipping a shot under the cross bar for his sixth goal of the season and first in 14 games.
Carolina goaltender Eddie Lack–coming off a 1-0 shutout in Toronto Thursday night after assuming the No. 1 duties with Cam Ward recently placed on injured reserve with a concussion–made a huge save at 17:18, robbing Viktor Stalberg on a point-blank backhand shot. However he couldn’t stop Yandle roughly thirty seconds later as New York grabbed a 2-0 lead.
Solid work behind the Hurricanes net by Kevin Hayes forced Carolina rookie defenseman Noah Hanifin into a turnover. Hayes dished into the right-wing corner to Oscar Lindberg, who in turn found a cutting Yandle in the low slot, and Yandle sent his third goal of the season into the cage at 17:53.
“Everything starts with our fore check, and the only way you can win is if you get the puck, and that’s why we practice our fore check and structure,” explained Hayes who stood out all night with his strong play. “Tonight that was very valuable for us. On Yandle’s goal I just tried to hound Noah there, then lifted his stick, passed it to Lindy and Lindy made a great play to set up the goal.”
That 2-0 lead held up through 20 minutes of play putting the Rangers in prime position to win this game considering Carolina entered play 0-13-0 this season when trailing at the first intermission.
“I think we came out really focused in this one,” stated Lundqvist. “We set the tone in the first, a really good period with a lot of really good chances. These last two games are two of our better ones in a long time. The last two, the way we fore checked, the energy, and we looked so fast. We look like the team we were in October.”
Still the Hurricanes found a way to halve the visitors’ lead when Joakim Nordstrom wristed one past Lundqvist at 3:29. The goal two minutes after Derek Stepan rang the post on a clear breakaway at the other end of the ice, and seconds after Dan Boyle was struck with an unpenalized high stick.
Though Carolina had a bit of a surge following the goal, Miller made sure to single handedly squash any thoughts of a comeback by the home team. Miller scored a pair of goals 2:10 apart to swell a one-goal advantage into a three-goal lead.
“Those were two big goals,” offered Hayes. “Millsie is playing real well right now. It’s good to see him get rewarded with some goals.”
Miller surpassed his career-best of ten goals in a season by netting his 11th at 9:41 of the second period. Following a swarming fore check by the Rangers, Jesper Fast could not control the puck at the bottom of the left circle, but Miller worked it free and snapped a shot past Lack to make it 3-1 Rangers.
At 11:51 Miller stripped defenseman Jaccob Slavin of the puck from behind deep in the Hurricanes zone, and then spun around, skated right at Lack before deking and sliding a forehand shot into the net for his 12th goal, and second two-goal game of his NHL career. It also gave him 24 points on the season, establishing a new single-season high for the former first round pick of the Rangers. Miller, who scored the overtime game-winner against the Canucks Tuesday night, now has three goals in his past two games, and four in his last four contests.
“It’s in our system to have an aggressive fore check and we did a really good job with that, especially in the first 40 minutes making them turn pucks over,” explained Miller. “On the second goal I just tried sweeping across and he mishandled it a little bit and I was able to get a stick on it and turn it into a goal.”
On their way to a feel-good road victory, the Rangers received a brief scare early in the third period when Rick Nash crashed hard into the boards. Nash stayed down on the ice, was attended to by head athletic trainer Jim Ramsay, and then was helped to the team’s dressing room. However Nash returned to action near the midway point of the period and proceeded to take a pair of shifts before limping off the ice again while blocking a shot while on the penalty kill with eight minutes remaining in regulation.
After the game Vigneault said, “He was in a little bit of pain, but pain is part of the game.”
Veteran forward Daniel Paille made his Rangers debut Friday night, 24 hours after signing with the team as a free agent. He skated on the fourth line with Dominic Moore and Tanner Glass at even strength, and paired with Stalberg on the penalty kill. Paille logged 15:17 worth of ice-time, was credited with three of the team’s 35 hits, blocked two shots, recorded a shot on goal and was a +1.
Paille took Chris Kreider’s spot in the lineup. Kreider missed the game due to neck spasms, though he was able to skate in the morning and Vigneault said he should be able to play Sunday afternoon in Ottawa against the Senators.
Because of the bad weather conditions the Rangers were forced to stay over in Raleigh after the game, hoping to be able to travel to Ottawa on Saturday.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
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