K’Andre Miller scored the tiebreaking goal with 9:23 remaining in the third period as the host New York Rangers ended the Carolina Hurricanes’ franchise-record 11-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Miller helped the Rangers hand Carolina its first regulation loss since Nov. 23 with an outstanding effort to set up and ultimately score the game-winner.
Miller kept the puck alive in the offensive zone and moved to the middle of the slot as Kaapo Kakko passed the puck back to Mika Zibanejad at the right point. Zibanejad then released the shot and Miller got enough space from Carolina’s Paul Stastny and tipped the puck past goaltender Pytor Kochetkov.
Before Miller scored his fourth career game-winner, Artemi Panarin threw the puck at the net for the tying goal 36 seconds into the third as the Rangers erased three one-goal deficits.
Jacob Trouba and Zibanejad also scored power-play goals as the Rangers improved to 10-2-1 in their past 13 games. Filip Chytil also added a power-play goal into the empty net after he scored into his own net on Carolina’s third goal.
Brent Burns, Martin Necas and Jalen Chatfield scored for Carolina, which was 15-0-2 during its previous 17 games. The Hurricanes also saw their 12-game road points streak stopped and lost for the first time in regulation when taking a lead into the third (16-1-2).
Shesterkin made seven of his 20 saves during three Carolina power plays, including two point-blank stops on Seth Jarvis after Miller scored.
The Hurricanes scored first for the 24th time when the Rangers could not clear the defensive zone. Shesterkin stopped a shot by Jaccob Slavin but after Trouba could not clear, Burns snuck in for the rebound and sent the puck in with 12:36 remaining in the first.
New York evened the game with 3:34 remaining when Trouba’s blast from the left point caromed off Chatfield’s left skate. Sixteen seconds after Trouba scored, Necas buried a one-timer from the left circle after getting a centering feed from behind the net by Andrei Svechnikov.
After a hooking penalty that infuriated Burns, the Rangers scored their second power-play goal when Zibanejad’s pass intended for Vincent Trochek instead got past Kochetkov with 3:15 left in the second. Carolina answered quickly again when Chatfield’s pass through the slot was deflected into the net by Chytil 29 seconds later.
–Field Level Media