Lundqvist makes 45 saves, Rangers hold off Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. --Henrik Lundqvist made 45 saves for the New York Rangers in a 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday.

It was the second consecutive win for Lundqvist, who made 35 saves in a 5-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday after sitting the previous three games.
"It kind of carried over what I did last night," Lundqvist said. "I felt pretty comfortable going into this game. Obviously, I was tested a lot in the first, but it was a fun test."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (7-6-1), who have won four of their past five games.
Dougie Hamilton and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes (9-6-1), who have lost three in a row. Petr Mrazek made 15 saves.

"These are tough ones because we played a pretty good game," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think we were the better team from start to finish, and their goalie was great. I mean, it happens."
Brendan Lemieux gave New York a 2-1 lead at 18:04 of the second period on the power play when he skated to the net and redirected Tony DeAngelo's point shot for his first goal of the season.

Filip Chytil made it 3-1 at 1:15 of the third period. Pavel Buchnevich stripped the puck from Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner, cut across the crease and pushed a backhand on net that Mrazek stopped with his outstretched pad, but Chytil knocked in the rebound.
"We find a way to tip one in, then [Chytil] scores to start the third, and I think that completely changed the game," Rangers forward Ryan Strome said. "Opportunistic, gutsy effort. We didn't have our legs, we didn't have our best night, but teams find a way to win on a tough back-to-back. That's a Hall of Fame and MVP performance by Lundqvist."

Aho cut it to 3-2 at 15:58 of the third when his shot deflected in off the stick of Rangers forward Lias Andersson, but Adam Fox scored into an empty net with 1:25 remaining to make it 4-2.
Panarin gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 28 seconds remaining in the first period, receiving a pass from behind the net by Strome and scoring with a one-timer from the slot.
"We talked about it before the game actually, how we should hang around the middle a bit more," Strome said. "It only takes him a split second. What a shot, right off his stick before anyone can react."
Carolina outshot New York 22-6 in the first period, which included two power-play opportunities for the Hurricanes.
"They freeze you and go side to side, and they're there for rebounds," Lundqvist said. "So the only thing I had in my head was not to be overaggressive to the shooter, and I had to be ready for the second shot. There was a couple times I got lucky. I was doing a lot of good things, but I also got some bounces."
Hamilton tied it 1-1 on a redirection of Jaccob Slavin's point shot in the slot at 14:32 of the second period.

Lundqvist preserved the lead in the third period when he squeezed Brett Pesce's shot from the slot between his left arm and body at 3:27, then moved across the crease to stop Warren Foegele trying to finish a 2-on-1 at the left post at 14:50.
"We kept shooting puck, getting on top of their [defense] and working them," Foegele said. "Their goalie played really well tonight."

They said it

"It's a pretty simple answer to what happened tonight: our goalie was unbelievable. I thought that was probably the best game he's played since I have been here."-- Rangers coach David Quinn on Henrik Lundqvist

"I'm in results mode, but what are you going to say after that? Bad game? You'd be stupid. That was about as good a period as we could play to start a game. We've started every game on time. We've been really good in the first period. We just haven't got goals to go in." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour

Need to know

Panarin extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, six assists). … In the second game of back-to-back starts, Lundqvist is 54-23-8 with a 2.12 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and nine shutouts. … Carolina had a season-high 47 shots. … Martin Necas had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists). … Eetu Luostarinen had two shots and two hits in 9:21 of ice time in his NHL debut.

What's next

Rangers:Host the Florida Panthers on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7:00 p.m. ET; SN1, TVAS2, FS-CR, NHL.TV)