Rangers defense stifles Hurricanes after injury fears

Everyone knows what Carolina does and how they do it, and it’s generally taken for granted that you can’t completely stop the Hurricanes from increasing the number of shots.

And there were the Rangers after the first game of the second round, after facing the inevitable barrage of… 25 shots on goal.

So maybe barrage isn’t the right word, especially when some of those looks came with the Hurricanes skating with an empty net in the final minutes of a 4-3 Rangers victory.

With Adam Fox finally playing after a scare week and K’Andre Miller showing no signs of trouble after putting the puck in his mouth during practice Saturday, the Rangers came out and put together an effort exceptionally tight defense against a team whose calling card is shot generation.

“It seems like we did a really good job,” Ryan Lindgren said. “I thought the wingers did a great job getting into the lanes in front of their defenders. They like to shoot a lot of pucks, obviously. The wingmen came out and entered the hallways. It’s still huge. It’s just that the D-Zone in general seemed like we were playing hard and making it difficult for them.

It wasn’t just a triumph in keeping the Hurricanes out of danger zones and winning battles around the net, although the Rangers did that in that Game 1 victory to open the second round.

It was a triumph in suppressing shots from all over the ice and simplifying the afternoon for Igor Shesterkin.

Expected objectives, respect the defensive structure.

“I don’t know how many shot attempts, how many blocks they had. Sometimes you have to look at that more than your shots on goal,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We put a lot of pucks out there, they did a good job getting past them and they missed the net on some, but yeah, you want more quality chances.”

It wasn’t just five-on-five either.

The Rangers allowed four power plays to Carolina, during which they generated almost as many shots as the Canes.

Then they gave up a fifth, defending a one-goal lead with 40 seconds left, and Carolina immediately canceled it with Andrei Svechnikov tripping Lindgren.

The Rangers penalty allowed the Hurricanes no quarter inside, bogged them down in the walls and put the puck on the ice at every opportunity.

The two power play goals scored by the Rangers were important. It was just as important.

“Huge blocked shots in front of me,” Shesterkin said after making 22 saves. “The guys are playing very well. And they did everything for me. Taking, blocking shots, huge job.