Alexandra Russo

Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.

It was kids’ day at the Garden, and the Rangers gave their fans a reason to celebrate. Kreider and Stepan led the way for the New York Rangers, as they skated off with a 4-2 victory over division rival Carolina Hurricanes.

The Rangers practiced spending time in the opposition’s zone on Friday because that has been their main area where they’ve struggled, and boy did it pay off! Derek Stepan put his team on the board less than five minutes into the game. Originally, the call on the ice was no-goal, but upon further review it was clear to see Stepan had notched his fifth of the season.

JT Miller nearly allowed the Hurricanes to respond when he gave the puck away in his own zone. He then made up for his mistake by making a few saves in the crease to keep the game in his team’s favor.  

It was Josh Jooris who took a tripping penalty, but the Rangers continue to have an excellent penalty kill, despite giving up the tying goal to Buffalo on the power play on Thursday night. Going into the game, their PK stood at ninth in the League, and they finished the afternoon 3/3.

The second period started out with a fast tempo. First it was the Hurricanes who pressured the Rangers in their zone when Miller lost his stick, and then the Rangers came right back down the ice as one of the Hurricanes lost their stick. It was the strong play of both goaltenders that kept it a one goal game, but not for long.

Viktor Stalberg came flying down the ice on a two on one and decided to shoot the puck. He beat Lundqvist glove side for a tie game just about halfway through the middle period.

The Rangers penalty kill was tested again, as the Hurricanes had a 5 on 3 for a few seconds. Then, it became a 4 on 3 for just under a minute until the Rangers had a brief power play for about 20 seconds.

Inside the last two minutes of the second period, the Blueshirts went on their first full power play of the game against the best penalty kill in the league, Carolina. The offensive struggle was evident, as the Hurricanes held them off well.

Michael Grabner scored his 13th goal of the season on a controversial call just about five minutes into the third period. Carolina challenged the play for offsides, and they ruled that it was inconclusive, so the goal stood, and the Rangers grabbed a 2-1 lead. (No pun intended!)

It wasn’t long that the lead lasted, though, as Carolina came right back down and scored. It was Viktor Rask who scored for the Hurricanes on a shot from the point that barely missed Lundqvist’s skate and found the back of the net. The shot might have deflected off of Chris Kreider.

It was Chris Kreider’s first goal in seven games that put the Rangers up for the third time in the afternoon. Leightnon was sprawled across the goal line from the original Derek Stepan shot. Eventually, Kreider found the loose puck in front and put it home for a 3-2 lead with 7:35 left in the final period of play.

Kreider didn’t stop there, though. Zuccarello got tripped before regaining the puck and leading the two on one opportunity. He passed it over to Kreider whose shot rang off the post before trickling behind the Hurricane’s goaltender for a two goal advantage.

To analyze the game as a whole, the Rangers definitely came back after a first period that saw only three shots on goal, despite the one goal lead. The second period was better, even though Carolina had the lone goal of the period. The third period is where the home team truly shined, as they put up a three goal effort and only gave up one. They are now 8-0-1 following a loss this season.

Rangers’ fans should be very optimistic about Kreider’s two goals. Hopefully, this renews his confidence in his ability to play a strong and complete game. Linemate Derek Stepan has 15 points in his last 20 games. It definitely makes sense that these players were the second and first stars of the game, respectively.

Henrik Lundqvist was solid in net, as well. He came back from a disappointing loss in Buffalo and only gave up two in his team’s home ice victory. He earned his place as third star of the game. The Blueshirts haven’t lost to the Hurricanes at home since October of 2010 and now have a thirteen game winning streak against them at Madison Square Garden.

They square off against arch-rival New York Islanders for their first game in Brooklyn this season. Catch the action at 7pm on Tuesday night as the Rangers look to get back on a winning streak.