For two periods, Igor Shesterkin made a mediocre performance by the Rangers seem sustainable.
But then with under three minutes left in the third, there lay Shesterkin, sprawled on the ice, a cluster of Hurricanes surrounding him and celebrating after Brent Burns’ pass to an unmarked Teuvo Teravainen ended up in the net — giving Carolina the lead for good in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss Tuesday night.
If the next two games against the Hurricanes (46-15-8) are a measuring stick, then the Rangers (41-20-10) are halfway toward failing their test.
It wasn’t as crisp, clean or sharp as their previous four wins, but a Tyler Motte goal with three minutes left in the first period still gave them an early advantage. The Blueshirts blew that lead, and then later blew a 2-1 lead in 18 seconds, snapping their four-game winning streak and thwarting a chance to gain ground on the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division.
“Honestly, the whole game, I thought they outplayed us,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “They were a lot quicker than we were tonight, for whatever reason.”
The first period wasn’t like Sunday’s against the Predators, when the Rangers scored six goals. Instead, passes were intercepted or didn’t reach their intended target altogether, and that led to a handful of open chances for the Hurricanes.
The Rangers went more than five minutes without a shot. But over the final half of the frame, their offense started to click a bit more, and everything culminated with Barclay Goodrow collecting possession off a faceoff deep in the Carolina zone.
He quickly slid a pass to Motte at the other end of the crease, and Motte flipped his sixth goal of the season — and his second in three games — past Frederik Andersen.
But the Rangers couldn’t generate an additional goal until the third. They were outshot 15-5 in the second frame, and Shesterkin bailed them out of numerous lapses near the net.
Carolina had fewer high-danger chances than it did in the first frame, according to Natural Stat Trick, but the Hurricanes possessed the puck for lengthy amounts of time.
“The second half of the first, I thought we played really well, and then after that, it wasn’t near good enough, definitely,” Gallant said. “They were a much better team. The game shouldn’t have been that close, and fortunately for [Shesterkin], he kept us in it and gave us a chance.”
A burst of three goals in 49 seconds turned a 1-0 Rangers lead into a 2-2 tie, with both teams injecting life into their offense. Jalen Chatfield evened the score at 1, tearing down the right side and snapping a shot off the crossbar and into the net.
That tally snapped a streak of 16 consecutive goals scored by the Rangers against opponents and a team shutout span of 180 minutes and 40 seconds. It also snapped Shesterkin’s personal shutout stretch at 120 minutes and 40 seconds.
But it didn’t take long for the Rangers to retake the lead. Kaapo Kakko wasn’t wide open — just a stride or so in front of three Hurricanes, gliding toward the spot where a rebound from Ryan Lindgren’s shot might land. He deposited a deflection around Andersen with 9:40 remaining.
But Carolina scored its equalizer on the ensuing rush, when Mika Zibanejad was outmuscled by Jordan Staal in the corner, Jacob Trouba was a step late with his stick and Stefan Noesen was unmarked in front of Shesterkin.
“It all comes back to we didn’t skate enough,” Gallant said. “We didn’t move the puck enough. We didn’t play our game. They were the quick, quick team, and we were slow.”
Then, Burns and Teravainen connected for the final tally, and any chance the Rangers had to gain ground in the standings — and keep this new-look, clicking-at-the-right-time lineup in its groove — evaporated with one final shot.
“I think the game was ours to lose,” forward Jimmy Vesey said. “Just made one too many errors.”
