Kochetkov makes 26 saves in season debut, Hurricanes shut out Rangers

NEW YORK -- Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves for a shutout in his first start of the season, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-0 win against the still-winless-at-home New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

The Rangers are 0-5-1 at home, tying a franchise record for the longest winless streak (six games) to start a season. They went 0-5 with one tie in their first six games in 1943-44 and 0-3 with three ties in their first six home games in 1950-51.

"It's frustrating," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. "No one wants to win at home more than we do right now."

Kochetkov missed Carolina's first 11 games with a lower-body injury he sustained in the preseason.

He got a conditioning start with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League on Saturday and made 22 saves in a 4-1 win against the Toronto Marlies before being recalled on Sunday.

"I played (three) days ago in the AHL and the NHL is a little bit different," Kochetkov said. "I had a couple easy shots before dangerous moments. It helped me. And the guys really helped me today. Absolutely team win."

Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal with the Hurricanes (8-4-0), and Sean Walker had a goal and an assist.

The Hurricanes limited the Rangers to 12 shots on goal in the last 51-plus minutes of the game after giving up 13 in the first 8:40 of the first period. They allowed one shot on goal in the third period.

"Right off the bat, first period (Kochetkov) had a lot of testy ones and it allowed us to just settle in," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "After that I thought we played great. … But the game goes totally different if they capitalize."

The Rangers (6-6-2) have been shut out in four of their six home games and held to one goal in another.

Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves.

"These guys are human, they care a lot about what's going on," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. "Of course we want to be a team that prides itself on being good at home, being stingy at home, making this a tough place for people to play. I thought when you look at how the game was played in the first two periods there was a lot to like about our game. Some of the quality looks, I'm not sure we could get better looks. 'Bread' (Artemi Panarin) was in alone. J.T. (Miller) had a rebound chance right in the slot. Jonny Brodzinski had a Grade A chance right in the slot. There's three off the top of my head that you don't get many better looks than those. That's just the way it's going for us right now. We've just got to keep fighting."

Ehlers gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 13:30 of the first period.

He scored on the power play with a shot from the top of the left face-off circle through traffic, including a Seth Jarvis screen. Sebastian Aho won the face-off in the left circle back to Walker, who walked it to his right inside the blue line before passing the puck back to Ehlers.

"Been waiting for that one for quite a while now," Ehlers said.

Ehlers signed a six-year, $51 million contract with the Hurricanes on July 3.

"Now he can relax, hopefully settle in," Brind'Amour said. "He's going to be here for a long time. We need him contributing."

Walker made it 2-0 at 17:07 of the second with another goal off a face-off win with a shot from the perimeter and a netfront screen.

Mark Jankowski won it back to Mike Reilly, who moved the puck across the blue line to Walker for a shot from above the right circle. Jankowski was screening Shesterkin and nearly got his stick on the puck for a tip-in.

Sullivan said the action in front of both nets was the difference in the game.

"I think we could have done a better job offensively in fighting for the blue paint and making the sightlines difficult, getting some sticks on pucks," he said. "When you look at the nature of the goals scored against us; a power-play goal that's a wrist shot from the perimeter and a sifter from the blue line off a face-off with people around the net. … Your ability to win the netfronts at both ends of the rink is an important element of it."

Jarvis scored into the empty net to make it 3-0 at 18:21 of the third period.

The Rangers had a stretch of 21:18 without a shot on goal; the final 8:08 of the second period through the first 13:10 of the third.

They also went 0-for-3 on the power play, falling to a League-worst 11.1 percent (4-for-36) this season.

"I don't know," Zibanejad said. "I don't know, honestly. We keep talking about having good looks. We keep talking about the stuff we do well and try to build on it. I feel like we're at three or four or maybe five Grade As and we don't score. The puck just has got to go in. Other than that we have to keep going. We have to find a way to put the puck in the net. I don't know. I don't think I've ever been a part of something like this before in terms of getting looks and not scoring. It's frustrating."

NOTES: Kochetkov's shutout was the 11th of his NHL career, all with the Hurricanes, tying Kevin Weekes and Sean Burke for the fourth most in franchise history after Cam Ward (27), Arturs Irbe (20) and Mike Liut (13).