Hurricanes lose to Rangers, eliminated from playoff contention

RALEIGH, N.C. --The Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Jeff Skinner scored, and Cam Ward made 18 saves for the Hurricanes (35-33-11), who will miss the playoffs for the ninth straight season, the longest streak in the NHL.
"It's been a grind for quite a while here," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "There was more expectation, more realistic expectation and a higher expectation."
Ryan Sproul and Kevin Hayes scored, and Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves for the Rangers (34-36-9), who swept the four-game season series against the Hurricanes.
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Lundqvist, who is 19-3-0 in his past 22 games against Carolina, tied Harry Lumley for 14th place on the NHL list for games played by a goaltender (803).
"Henrik played awesome," New York defenseman Brady Skjei said. "There were a few shots where we could have been down early, but he kept us in the game. As defensemen, I thought we did a good job with our sticks. There were a lot of 1-on-1 battles, and I thought we won quite a bit of them."
Sproul scored to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 3:01 of the second period with a wrist shot in the slot off a pass from Paul Carey. The goal was Sproul's first since Nov. 15, 2016 when he played for the Detroit Red Wings.
"[Vladislav Namestnikov] on the wall made a great play to Carey, who made a great play to me," Sproul said. "When you're walking down the slot like that, it makes it pretty easy."
Hayes extended the lead to 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 13:23. He scored on a one-timer off a pass on a 2-on-1 from Jesper Fast.

Skinner cut it to 2-1 at 8:07 of the third period when he took a backhand pass from Derek Ryan and scored on a one-timer from the top of the crease.
"I guess the story is different (this season)," Skinner said. "There were more expectations with the players we had, and how we finished last year and the moves we made."

Goal of the game

Sproul's goal at 3:01 of the second period.

Save of the game

Lundqvist's save on Skinner with 40 seconds remaining in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Hayes' goal at 13:23 of the second period.

They said it

"It's our job to leave everything we've got out there. That was my message to the room when we went out. We have one week to go here, and we're talking about making the most of this. It starts with your preparation and how badly you want to win games. That's when you get the most of every game." -- Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist
"They've owned us. If we had the answer, we would try something different. We tried something different tonight; it was Ward's first start against them (this season). We have a hard time scoring against this team, for sure. But we have a hard time scoring in general."-- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Need to know

New York outscored Carolina 19-6 this season. … Rangers defensemen blocked 15 shots. … The Hurricanes are 5-5-1 when they have at least 40 shots. … Ryan has six points (one goal, five assists) in the past four games.

What's next

Rangers:At the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG2, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes:At the Florida Panthers on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-CR, NHL.TV)