Jimmy Vesey helps Rangers complete comeback

NEW YORK -- Rick Nash scored the tying goal and had an assist on Jimmy Vesey's game-winning power-play goal to help the New York Rangers to a 3-2 come-from-behind win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
The Rangers (16-7-1) rallied behind Nash after falling behind 2-0 in the first period on goals by Hurricanes forward Viktor Stalberg. Nick Holden scored at 9:13 of the second period, Nash tied it 24 seconds into the third period and Vesey scored the winner with 5:12 left.
"When you're a leader and you're expected to be one of the top players," Nash said, "You try to do it every night, but some nights it's there and some nights it's not. But I know it's part of my game that I've got to help these guys and lift them when things aren't going right."

WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Rangers highlights
Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for his 10th consecutive home win against Carolina (9-9-4).
"You get behind the eight ball against a hard working team that can check real well, you need some people to come out and take charge," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "There's no doubt that Rick tonight was the leader of this team by his play."
Vesey's power-play goal, scored off the rebound of Nash's shot from the left side, was upheld after Carolina coach Bill Peters challenged, suggesting the Rangers were offside entering the zone. It was inconclusive so the goal stood.
"In the big scheme of things we're playing close to 60 minutes; tonight we didn't really do that," Stalberg said. "For two periods we were a really good team. We played one of the best teams in the League on the road and felt like we were the dominating team, pushing the pace. We have to take some positives, but at the end of the day, we're not getting those two points."

Nash tied it with an end-to-end solo rush capped with a backhand shot into the top right corner over Ward's left shoulder for his 10th goal.
Holden's goal was key because it changed momentum. The Hurricanes had a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals from Stalberg. Both goals came off of Rangers' turnovers in the defensive zone.
"We need the next goal," Lundqvist said. "We had a meeting this morning talking about that third goal. We all felt it. We needed the next one. … As soon as we scored you could feel the momentum change a little bit, the energy in the building. We got a little more confident and we started to play our game more."

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Goal of the game

Nash skated up the ice and blew past defenseman Ron Hainsey before scoring the tying goal. He avoided a stick-check attempt from Justin Faulk and roofed a backhand shot over Ward's shoulder and into the top right corner of the net to make it 2-2 early in the third.

Saves of the game

Lundqvist was at the top of the crease when he stopped Hainsey's uncontested wrist shot with 1:16 remaining in the third period. He followed that with back-to-back saves on Derek Ryan and Joakim Nordstrom to keep the Rangers ahead while Carolina played with an extra attacker.

Highlight of the game

After struggling to break through against the Hurricanes' penalty kill, the Rangers adjusted their zone entry and got the puck in deep. It led to a shot from Skjei, a rebound and scoring chance for Nash, another rebound and the game-winning goal by Vesey.

Unsung moment of the game

Marc Staal cleared the puck out of the crease with his left hand with 2:53 left in the second period and Carolina leading 2-1. Holden deflected Sebastian Aho's shot and Lundqvist got a piece of it, but the puck trickled into the crease. Staal swatted it out as Teuvo Teravainen converged.

They said it

"We just need to understand that not every game is going to be four, five or six goals. Everything is not going to go our way. I think we noticed that the last couple weeks. It's a grind. It's a lot of games. Teams scout us a lot and make it tough for us to use our speed, so we need to simplify it sometimes and really believe that if we play within our structure it's going to pay off. We need to be able to win 3-2 and not 5-2 or 5-4. We know that. I think we did a really good job of not panicking or getting away from our game even though we had a tough start. I think that was a test and we passed it." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist

Need to know

The Rangers have won 12 consecutive home games against the Hurricanes, a franchise record for longest home winning streak against an opponent.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Boston Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, NESN, NHL.TV)
Rangers: At the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, MSG-B, NHL.TV)