Hurricanes defeat Rangers, expand Metropolitan Division lead

NEW YORK --The Carolina Hurricanes extended their lead for first place in the Metropolitan Division to four points with a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

The top line of Sebastian Aho (one goal, two assists), Seth Jarvis (goal, assist) and Andrei Svechnikov (goal, assist) combined for seven points, and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for the Hurricanes (48-18-8), who have 104 points with eight games remaining.
The Rangers are second in the division with 100 points and eight games left.
"It's huge," Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei said. "These games at the end of the season have some big meaning and tonight we knew we were close in the standings and with us having some guys that played here in the past it, was a big game for us. Guys on the team knew that. It wasn't the start we wanted but I thought we played great in the third period, came back and had a good win."

Skjei (two assists), forward Jesper Fast (assist), and defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Smith played their first games as visitors at Madison Square Garden.
"It's a big game for a lot of players for obvious reasons," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I don't know how big of a game it's going to end up being. It might be a big game. But we'll take the two points, and we'll talk about the next game as being a big one."
Chris Kreider scored his 50th goal of the season, and Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves for the Rangers (47-21-6), who had a three-game winning streak and four-game point streak end.
Kreider is the fourth 50-goal scorer in Rangers' history, joining Jaromir Jagr (54 in 2005-06), Adam Graves (52 in 1993-94) and Vic Hadfield (50 in 1971-72).
"I could feel guys looking for me and they play very tight man to man," Kreider said. "I was telling Mika [Zibanejad] I felt like a shooting guard a lot of the night trying to work my way around picks and get open, but that's how they play defense. It's better for the whole team now that we can just go back to playing hockey and taking what the other team gives us. We've got some absolutely incredible people in that room who were pulling for me and that means the world to me, but put it behind us and everyone can go back to shooting the puck and I can go back to screening the goalie."

K'Andre Miller gave New York a 1-0 lead at 1:03 of the second period.
The Hurricanes tied it 1-1 at 13:38 when Svechnikov banked the puck in off Shesterkin's left skate from behind the goal line.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said he could feel the game turn in Carolina's favor in the second after the Rangers outshot the Hurricanes 14-8 in the first.
"They won those one-on-one battles, I thought we played too much time in our [defensive] zone and they sort of took the momentum away from us," Gallant said.
The Hurricanes carried that momentum into the third period, and Jarvis gave them a 2-1 lead at 1:02.
Jordan Staal made it 3-1 at 6:42.
"It's just kind of a testament to how we need to play the whole game," Jarvis said. "We didn't come out quite as well in the first two periods, but in the third period we found our game and I feel we really put it on them."

Kreider cut the lead to 3-2 at 18:22, scoring off a rebound with Shesterkin pulled for the extra skater.
"I think it's awesome he scored 50 goals," Gallant said. "That's huge. It's great to see. That's a great feat. He's had a great season for us. It's too bad we had to lose when a guy scores his 50th, but hats off to him. It's a phenomenal season."
The Rangers kept the pressure on and got two more shots on goal, including one from Kreider, but Aho scored an empty-net goal at 19:54 for the 4-2 final.
The Hurricanes' top-ranked penalty kill held the Rangers' second-ranked power play to 0-for-4 with four shots on goal.
"That's the game in a nutshell," Brind'Amour said. "It was four, felt like 10 because every time they get one, you're worried because they are so lethal. That's the game for me. If they score on that it's a totally different game."
NOTES:Zibanejad's assist on Miller's goal was his 75th point, tying his single-season career high (2019-20). … Rangers forward Andrew Copp had an assist on Kreider's goal to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). … Staal has scored six goals in the past four games after going 15 straight without a goal. … Skjei had two assists, one shot on goal and two hits in 23:14 of ice time in his first game in New York since being traded to Carolina on Feb. 24, 2020. The defenseman played 307 games with the Rangers after being selected in the first round (No. 28) in the 2012 NHL Draft. … Fast had one assist and two hits in 16:23 in his return after signing with Carolina as a free agent in October 2020. The forward was a sixth-round pick (No. 157) in the 2010 NHL Draft and played 422 games with New York. … DeAngelo had three shots on goal, one hit and two blocked shots in 18:08 in his first game in New York since signing with Carolina as a free agent on July 28, 2021. He played 167 games with the Rangers. … Smith had one hit in 13:48 of ice time. He signed with Carolina as a free agent on July 29, 2021, after playing 235 games with New York.