RALEIGH, N.C. — Thursday night’s hero was one of Saturday night’s goats for the Rangers.
Two nights earlier, in a desperate PNC Arena, it was Artemi Panarin who threw a dagger into the Hurricanes’ hearts, scoring the game-winner in overtime to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.
It came minutes after Panarin stood before his teammates in the visitors’ cramped locker room at PNC Arena at the end of regulation, urging them not to be discouraged by the fact that Carolina had just equalize with a goal at six against five and remain “resilient” in OT.
The Rangers’ deflating 4-3 loss Saturday night to Carolina in Game 4 at PNC Arena in a game in which they rallied from two two-goal deficits to tie the game at 3-3 in the third period ended quickly turned into a real match. different story for them – and Panarin in particular.
With the Hurricanes already leading 1-0 thanks to an unassisted goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov just 1:51 into the game, which proved to be the Rangers’ first punch to the chin, Panarin was a little in delay in reaching a puck that former Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo approached. the blue line.
That contributed to a goal by Stefan Noesen, with Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba unable to clear Carolina’s Jordan Staal out of the end zone and giving the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead at 6:33 of the first period.
Carolina center Martin Necas collected the loose puck and shot at Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin and Noeson buried the rebound.
After the Rangers cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1 just 1:33 after Noesen’s goal, Panarin appeared to take the ice for his shift a split second late, then took a bad angle on Hurricanes center Jake Guentzel behind the Rangers net. .
Moments later, Guentzel fed the puck to Sebastian Aho in the slot with Panarin now protected by Aho in front of the net and Aho beat Shesterkin high over his left shoulder for a stunning 3-1 Carolina lead.
It was the first time in the playoffs that the Rangers trailed by more than one goal.
“We didn’t play good enough defense,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said in a television interview with TNT between the first and second periods. “You make a mistake early and (the puck) is in the back of the net. You don’t raise defensively and it’s behind the net.
Let’s be clear: Panarin isn’t the only reason the Rangers lost Game 4 and now must try to close out this series Monday night at the Garden to avoid a second trip to North Carolina.
But, two nights after making the difference in the Rangers’ Game 3 victory, he played a role in preparing the Rangers for early adversity – even if they were subtle mistakes on his part .
“We dug ourselves a hole early,” Laviolette said after the game. “The (chances) we gave up were pretty loud. We need to be a little more specific than that. There were some things defensively that I thought we could have been a little better with in the first half.
Asked specifically about Panarin’s errors, Laviolette, who never calls out his players in public, rejected any blame.
“Look, they also have a good team, they also have strong players,” said the protective coach. “(Panarin) just managed to get caught on the wrong side of (Guentzel on Aho’s goal) and you lose him for a second and… it’s not fair (Panarin). We could have been a little tighter with what we were doing, whether it was puck decisions or covering a little quicker to close out.
The last thing the Rangers wanted to do in Game 4 was allow the Hurricanes to muster up some early hope.
“We wanted to rely on non-stop pressure, and we had to do that in the first half or we weren’t going to play anymore,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour told TNT during intermission of the game. second period.
Panarin’s shaky start, which was not made available to reporters after the game, was somewhat ironic when one listens to the words of Caroline center Martin Necas before the game when asked about the Rangers top scorer.
“He’s one of those players, like last game (Thursday), you could barely notice him the whole game and he made two plays and it was game over,” Necas said. “With these players you really have to know where they are and if you don’t know, that’s what happens.”
That night, it was the Hurricanes who got the better of Panarin, not the other way around.
New York Post
