The Rangers generally wouldn’t even have needed the presence of their 1994 championship predecessors for inspiration to secure a home victory against Carolina.
With the ’94 Stanley Cup squad honored in a 25th anniversary ceremony before the game, the Blueshirts couldn’t extend their home winning streak over the Hurricanes to 17 straight games since 2011, and lost 3-0 at the Garden on Friday night. The 16 straight they had won against Carolina had marked the longest home streak against one opponent in franchise history.
The Rangers (23-23-8) fell to 2-3-1 in their past six games to remain nine points below the playoff cutoff in the Eastern Conference.