Fox, Rangers gain in Metropolitan with win against Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Adam Fox scored in the third period, and the New York Rangers rallied for a 2-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday.

Fox pinched from the blue line and scored blocker side off a pass from Artemi Panarin for a 2-1 lead at 4:01. It was his first goal since Jan. 23 (25 games).
"I found [Panarin] and I was able to be up there as the fourth guy," Fox said. "He found me, and I was able to put it in."
Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for the Rangers (42-20-10). Mika Zibanejad had two assists.
New York is in third place in the Metropolitan Division. They moved within four points of the New Jersey Devils for second, and six of Carolina.
"'Shesky' kept us in that hockey game," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "We found a way to battle back and get into it. For two periods, I didn't like the way we played."
Sebastian Aho scored, and Frederik Andersen made 14 saves for the Hurricanes (46-16-8), who clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the game when the Toronto Maple Leafs won 6-2 against the Florida Panthers.
Carolina is two points ahead of New Jersey for first in the Metropolitan. It has reached the playoffs in each of Rod Brind'Amour's five seasons as coach (220-102-36).
"Their goalie made some real big saves," Brind'Amour said. "So, tip your hat. Obviously, we know that's how that team goes. Great, talented team, and they've got a good goalie."

Aho gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 16:47 of the first period. He collected a pass from Martin Necas in the neutral zone and backed off the defense before scoring on a wrist shot from the edge of the right face-off circle.
The goal came less than five minutes after the Hurricanes killed 1:49 of a two-man advantage for the Rangers.
"That was a big kill at the time," Aho said. "Freddie in the pipes made some huge saves there. We took that momentum to 5-on-5, and we were better the rest of that first period."
Carolina outshot New York 13-3 in the first.
"We need to get more out of it, honestly, but we couldn't do much better from a period standpoint," Brind'Amour said. "The whole game, we were doing exactly what we had to do."
Shesterkin kept it a one-goal game at 7:14 of the second period, when he stretched across the crease to stop Jesse Puljujarvi's one-timer off a pass from Derek Stepan.
"It was a straight shot, he shot on my blocker," Shesterkin said. "Basically, it was all blue line shots without traffic. [The team] always plays great in front of me."

Panarin tied it 1-1 at 10:33 of the second period when he took a pass from Zibanejad and scored on a one-timer from the left circle.
The line of Panarin, Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko combined for five points.
"I don't think everything works yet, but we're trying to find a way to score in every game and don't give up goals," Tarasenko said. "I think we're making progress, but I don't think it's the best we can do."
NOTES: Carolina became the second team this season to clinch a playoff berth; the Boston Bruins clinched March 11. … New York played without defenseman Ryan Lindgren; he returned from an upper-body injury Tuesday after missing 11 games. … Fox has one goal and five assists during a six-game point streak. … Zibanejad has multipoint games in five of the past six (11 points; five goals, six assists). … The Rangers' 16 shots were their fewest this season. ... Forward Jordan Staal played his 730th game with Carolina to pass defenseman Glen Wesley for second-most in Hurricanes history; only Eric Staal has played more (909).