The Rangers blew a second chance to clinch the series, falling 4-1 to the Hurricanes. Up 1-0 after two periods despite getting outplayed by Carolina, New York were wiped off the ice on the third, allowing three goals in 6:23 before Martin Necas clinched the win with an empty net tally. The Blueshirts now head to Carolina - with an extra day of rest - for Game 6 on Thursday at 7pm.
Scratches: Chytil, Brodzinski, Jones, Ruhwedel, Edstrom and Domingue
LTIR: Wheeler
Anatomy of a defeat:
1) Too many passengers: go through the lineup and tell me who you think played well? Is there anyone you can hand on a heart say had a positive impact in the game or was at his best? All four offensive lines struggled while the blue line were not much better. Igor Shesterkin was good for the first two periods, and while it’s hard to blame him for the three goals allowed, Nee York needed him to be perfect and he wasn’t. Carolina was a step faster all night and won most of the 50-50 battles, tilting the ice.
2) Game play: Carolina pressured New York throughout the contest. Other than a strong start to the game by the Rangers, the Hurricanes controlled play. Up 1-0 coming into the third period, the Rangers went into the 1-3-1 neutral zone trap or shell, giving me bad memories of the AV days, and it came back to burn them.
New York opted to try and protect a lead rather than continue to play and get and pressure the opponent. With that came laziness and casualness which resulted in at least two of the three goals allowed. In addition, the team did nothing offensively and couldn’t turn it back on when needed to score.
I give Carolina credit as they continued to push and expend energy. They brought effort and forced New York into mistakes, though several of those were self-imposed. But the Hurricanes refused to fold and doubled their efforts to start the third, helping contribute to the three goals they scored.
Vince Mercogliano summarized what happened well:“The Hurricanes are known for their swarming forecheck and disruptive style, which has been building as this series goes on. They've turned several Blueshirts' breakout attempts into uncoordinated puck-flinging sessions, converted turnovers into quick strikes and taken advantage of defensive-zone breakdowns, particularly when New York's forwards get caught trailing the play.”
3) Breakdowns on each goal against: New York opened the third period shorthanded after Will Cuylle took a penalty with 9.8 seconds remaining in the second period. The penalty arose after K’Andre Miller missed the net on a shot, allowing Carolina to come out of the zone and Cuylle tripped Sebastian Aho.
The Rangers killed the penalty and looked to be in good shape. A failed clear by Chris Kreider was picked off by Dmitry Orlov. As New York and Carolina changed personnel, Miller and Braden Schneider both were caught flat footed in the defensive zone. Orlov sent a cross-ice pass to Jordan Staal, who came off the bench and blew by Schneider before reaching around Shesterkin for a backhanded finish and tie game.
That tally just emboldened Carolina and sucked all the life out of an already nervous MSG crowd. You could just see the momentum shift and ice tilt even more. The Hurricanes came up ice three minutes later on what looked to be an innocuous rush. Brady Skjei’s shot resulted in a juicy rebound. Evgeny Kuznetsov potted the rebound for his second goal in as many games, beating Artemi Panarin to the far post for the winning goal. Panarin was lazy getting up ice, then allowed Kuznetsov to get inside position for the rebound.
Jordan Martinook followed by scoring to make it 3-1 with 10:04 to play, finishing from the slot after Jack Drury forced a Trouba turnover behind the net. Trouba was slow in playing the puck on a play that should have been an easy read. But no one had Martinook in the slot. The goal though was a result of hard work, which was a hallmark of Carolina’s game yesterday and this series, which has not been matched for long stretches by New York.
4) Powerless play: it’s clear Adam Fox is not 100% and Carolina is targeting him on the PP. normally, Fox is able to shed the pressure and create time and space. Now, he is crumbling under that pressure, which coupled with the team’s inability to enter the zone clean, has rendered the man advantage a shell of what we saw against Washington and the first few games of this series.
The Rangers' power play is 0-for-8 in the last three games. Their five-on-five offense also failed to score Monday while generating only 15 shots, the latter number endemic of the lack of effort. In addition, as noted above, the defense has being springing leaks at inopportune moments, especially in yesterday’s third period.
Add it up and New York is forced to head to Carolina for Game 6 with more questions than answers. PNC Arena will be no fun house, as the Canes have won 16 of their last 21 playoff games at home. In addition, they’re now halfway to history, trying to become just the fifth team in NHL history to rally from down 3-0 to win a series.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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