Hurricanes stumble in first game back from NHL All-Star break, fall to Rangers at home

Coming out of the NHL All-Star break, it’s easy to want to look forward to the playoffs, especially with the trade deadline looming as a critical checkpoint just a few weeks away.

Given the New York Rangers’ big trade move earlier this week — adding Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues — as they attempt to chase the Carolina Hurricanes down atop the Metropolitan Division, Saturday’s second meeting of the season between the Canes and Rangers took on an added postseason feel.

Similar to last year’s seven-game playoff series between the Canes and Rangers, turnovers, special teams and grinding 5-on-5 play made the difference.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, there were too many of the former against a top transition team, leading to the Canes’ first outright loss in 11 games, a 6-2 setback to New York at PNC Arena.

“Turnovers, that’s the end of the day,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

“The stuff we were giving up were just Grade-As,” Canes captain Jordan Staal added, “either breakaways or two-on-ones, stuff that we can’t be doing.”

Teuvo Teravainen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored goals for the Hurricanes. Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko and Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers. It was Panarin’s second strike that proved to be the difference on scoreboard, but it was his first, late in the second period to tie the game at 2-2, that kickstarted the Rangers.

“We had full possession, there’s no real stress on us, and we turn it over,” Brind’Amour said.

Early in the third, Panarin struck for his second after a turnover in the right defensive corner gave the Rangers numbers down low. Panarin beat starter Frederik Andersen on a rebound after a Vincent Trocheck shot.

“(Panarin)’s a world-class player for a reason,” Brind’Amour said. “He was the difference tonight, for sure.”

Panarin added another at even strength later in the third to complete his hat trick — on another turnover-turned-breakaway — Kakko found the empty net with 2:14 to play to put the Canes away, and Panarin added a fourth on the night in the closing minute.

Beyond Tarasenko — who was quiet Saturday — two other key players were definitely different Saturday from last year’s playoff series: the goalies. Andersen, the Canes’ No. 1, was hurt and unable to play in last year’s series. He started and played well Saturday, finishing with 23 saves. He’d been riding a multiple-game win streak before the All-Star break since returning from an injury.

The Rangers countered with Jaroslav Halak, a journeyman backup in his 17th year of professional hockey. He was spelling regular starter Igor Shesterkin, who played — and won — Friday night against Seattle.

Rangers strike first

The Canes had the better of play for the first few minutes of the opening period Saturday, peppering Halak with a handful of quick shots, several from in tight. But shortly thereafter, the Rangers gathered their legs, perhaps still a bit sluggish from having played the night before.

Later in the first, given their first power play opportunity of the game, the Rangers’ top unit went to work. As he’s done multiple times, Zibanejad scored with the extra skater, fighting through Jordan Martinook’s clearing attempt to gather a Chris Kreider rebound and shovel it past Andersen.

Powerless

The Hurricanes’ power play has been a point of consternation for the team most of the season, though it had been improving during the team’s pre-break win streak. On Saturday, though, special teams came up empty. After the Rangers flexed their muscle on the power play in the first period, the Canes had an opportunity with an extra skater straddling the first intermission, but never set up well in the New York zone and came up empty with the man advantage.

The Canes also had a chance on the power play in the third period after Panarin was called for hooking Brent Burns. That opportunity also went by the wayside.

“We didn’t execute anything we were trying to do,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s really the difference in the game, too. They got theirs on the power play... We only had two power plays the whole game, but they weren’t very good.”

Nice Finnish

It’s not that Teravainen and Kotkaniemi aren’t valuable to the Hurricanes. But it’s not that often you see the two Finns on the scoresheet with goals in the same game.

That happened Saturday against New York. Skating on a line with Sebastian Aho and and Seth Jarvis, Teravainen was in the right place at the right time, collecting his own rebound to the left of Halak. He skated first toward his own defender then whipped back toward the cage, firing a seeing-eye shot that beat Halak short side to tie the score at 1-1.

Kotkaniemi got in on the act a few minutes later, backhanding a rebound past Halak to give the Canes a 2-1 lead.

“If he’s going to play on a line with those guys, you got to get on the score sheet,” Brind’Amour said of Kotkaniemi.

News and notes

▪ Rangers forward Jake Leschyshyn, whose father skated in 255 games with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes from 1996-2000, has become the first Raleigh native — and third overall from North Carolina — to skate in an NHL game at PNC Arena. He is the fourth player born in North Carolina to play in the NHL. Jared Boll, Ben Smith and Logan Brown are the others. Boll and Smith have skated in a game at PNC Arena, Brown has not.

▪ Jaccob Slavin returned to the Hurricanes lineup Saturday after missing the previous six games with an undisclosed injury. In his pregame comments this week, Brind’Amour said if things had been more urgent, Slavin could have returned a few games earlier, but with the All-Star break and subsequent bye week, there was no rush.

▪ Saturday also marked Trocheck’s return to PNC Arena. The former Hurricanes center signed with the Rangers in the offseason after helping Carolina reach the second round of the playoffs a year ago, where, ironically, the Canes fell to the Rangers. Trocheck received a hearty round of applause when reintroduced on the big screen during the first period.

▪ Speaking of video board tributes, Jesper Fast was also honored Saturday as he skated in his 600th NHL game. Fast was originally drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round of the 2010 NHL Draft. He is the 21st player from his draft class to reach 600 games.

▪ To say Halak is well-traveled is an understatement. Halak’s NHL passport has been stamped seven different times. Most recently before this season, Halak spent a year in Vancouver. Prior to that, he spent three years with Boston, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. He’s also played for the New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and his draft team, the Montreal Canadiens.

▪ The Rangers made the second big splash of trade season this past week in acquiring Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues to bolster their already-potent offense. New York added Tarasenko and defender Niko Mikkola for Sammy Blais, a defensive prospect and two conditional draft picks. In his first game for the Rangers on Friday, Tarasenko scored his first goal for the club on the power play.

The New York Islanders also made a move nearly a month before the NHL’s trade deadline recently, adding Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks. Horvat has four points in four games for the Isles. Both the Rangers and Islanders are chasing the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division standings. Those moves have shifted the Canes’ rumor mill into high gear well in advance of the March 3 deadline.