The Carolina Hurricanes were the first of many litmus tests for the New York Rangers last night. In previous years, the Hurricanes have always given the Rangers fits in the regular season, massively out shooting, out chancing, and out possessing. The Rangers found ways to win with their elite talent alone. But last night, something changed. The script flipped.
Something happened in this game though that hasn’t happened in a long time against the Hurricanes: The Rangers weathered the storm and actually went toe-to-toe with their system. Shots were 27-26 Hurricanes, both teams scored on the power play, and this definitely was a game of seeing which team was going to break either team’s “trap” style game.