Post Game Thread: Carolina Hurricanes at New York Rangers – 21 Mar 2023

29 comments

1. I don’t think our third period was as catastrophic as some people are acting and I expect to come out strong and get the W on Thursday.

2. I see heaps of people pissing and moaning about “muh doomers” but no actual doomers. Wonder why…

3. team let igor down tonight

4. Oh man this must mean the fanatics deal is cursed. Better nix that now just to be safe.

5. Game was an ass-clencher that after 40 turned into a TV-puncher. Absolutely no attempt at offense in the first 40 minutes, including on the powerplay. At least in the first two periods we sneaked in a goal and locked down defense, not to mention Igor played out of his mind the whole night. Defense completely fell apart in the third, as it almost always does, and the Rangers again failed to capitalize on a golden PP opportunity that could’ve shut the game away and earned Igor the shutout. Carolina walked all over us and shat bigly on Igor’s save percentage after an undoubtedly incredible game.

   I loved watching those games against Pittsburgh and Nashville. Well deserved shutouts for both goalies and a great offensive clinic performed on our opponents. The problem with that is that our team now thinks they can score at will, which as this game proves, they cannot. A 6-0 Igor shutout is not the new normal, and both the fans and the players have to realize that.

   What’s been up with Miller lately? He’s arguably been our most hot and cold defenseman this season. Every couple months he goes on a ridiculous highlight-worthy offensive spree and then you see him in the foreground of some absolutely disastrous goal-against. Not even sure what action you’d take against him given we’re 11 games from the playoffs and clearly need to meld Lindgren back into the mix.

   Goaltending is not a problem for this team. Defense, if they can avoid these third period breakdowns whenever we have even the thinnest lead, is not a problem for this team. Offense, the top 6 in particular, needs to get out of their post-PIT/NSH circle jerk and remember just how hard it is to score goals against good teams.

6. Come the round of the playoffs we play Carolina… god I hate they control possession as much as they do.

   We’ll hang with them either way. But it just feels like we need to be more clinical on the PP and have little room for error on the chances we do get.

7. Imagine we had a real coach like Brind’Amour? This might be the most talented Ranger team we’ll ever see, and going into the playoffs our coaches strategy is “fuck it go out there and play.”

8. if NYR is going to win the cup, this is a team they’re going to have to beat (and if not them, then a different team who runs similar NZ structures/schemes and moves the puck extremely well — NJD, BOS, TBL, etc.). the Hurricanes are a team that can be missing their 3rd highest scorer and not even blink, that’s what having a good structure can do

   Brind’Amour has had Carolina playing the exact same way and yet Gallant/Murphy still can’t figure out how to get NYR to move the puck successfully in transition, only made worse considering they had last change. tons of icings and broken up plays in the NZ. they fed right into Carolina’s scheme. the only ones capable of beating them have been the kids, whose bread and butter has always been transition play.

   NYR has the personnel to beat them in a 7 game series (and if they figured this out, they could win in 5), even if Carolina is playing their starter this time. but the coaches [actually have to figure out a way to move the puck out of their zone](https://twitter.com/DLefcort/status/1631116277795176454). unfortunately, pulling the slot machine on the lines/pairs isn’t going to do it if the means in which they attempt to move the puck are the same. stretch passes to the far blue line are not going to do it, especially when it’s anyone but Fox/Miller trying to make them.

9. Also what the fuck is NHL scheduling, we are gonna have 3/4 against Pens with back to back. Now another canes back to back?!

10. The canes are a relentless team that clearly wore us down over 60 minutes. They took advantage of the few defensive mistakes we made. I’m not that worried.

    Igor looked great and the offensive performance we saw tonight is not the norm. Can’t win ‘em all, but I think we’ll win the next one.

11. Leaving guys wide open in front of the net is probably not the best game plan.

12. PP cost them that game.

13. We need to be able to beat them if we’re going to get anywhere in the playoffs

14. Miller still inconsistent. Great one game and then makes huge costly mistake in the next one. No idea why he thought going to the corner there was the right thing to do.

15. All game they took away the ability to skate into zone. Even on the pk they had all 4 guys on the blue line. I know this team likes to handle the puck but for Thursday Id like to see them work on having a guy without the puck moving in with speed and get the dump and chase game going. Its not exciting hockey but looks like the best bet to get into the zone. Even when they did dump and chase tonight, they did from a stand still and had to battle for the loose puck instead of beating the D there

16. We have trouble with good teams. No series will be easy

17. Some positives to take from it, we showed we could hang with the best. 4th line really showed their value but still some negatives, pp was pretty average and got punished when we switched off at the end.

    Can’t win em all, on to the next one.

18. I do think we would beat this team in a 7 game series. Coming off back to back huge shutout wins, I’m not surprised we blew it tonight. This loss will be a significant learning lesson for the team and I think we’ll show up fully prepared on Thursday. These boys do not want to be stopped in the neutral zone, I think they’ll figure out how to work this kinda playstyle by playoffs at least

19. Welcome back to earth everybody!

20. Anyone else notice in the last 10-20 seconds of the game, we have 6 attackers on. Kane gets the puck in the top right corner, turns to the slot, and NO ONE rushed the net. Everyone spread out like it was a powerplay with plenty of time to go. I’ve noticed this trend the last few weeks.

    Teams like Boston and Carolina score and shoot a LOT of pucks in the danger zone because they always have a man rushing to the slot. Rangers never do. We always try to make a cross ice one timer from circle to circle, or across the crease, which is sometimes fine but leads to a hell of a lot of turnovers in the ozone. Only time we ever have someone in the middle is kreids or Laffy on the PP screening the goalie.

    Especially when we have 6 skaters on, someone needs to be driving the net. All these big forwards with Kreids/Trocheck/Kakko/Laf and everyone’s spread out

21. This had a playoff game vibe to it. I liked the way the team responded to giving up goals (with the exception of the last one). Igor was on his head until the end. Defensively, although Lindgren played well, still oof. Key, man where were you when Noesen scored? Geez cant do that. Especially against the Canes. Motte’s goal is goal where you can expect in the playoffs.

    Now, from both 2nd and 3rd period on, Carolina was constantly working hard. After what Turk said, the Canes won most of the battles tonight. Their way of play is puck battling forechecking physical team. He was right, Trouba was right, as well as Fox. However, the Rangers can absolutely play with this team in the future and they could beat this team (they did twice this year). Gotta limit the turnovers against the Canes. Protect the puck more. Top 6 was shut down by their defense. Kreids needs to be more physical below the boards, in the o zone. Same w/Vova. Patrick? where was he? The Yute Line looked good. Kakko got a very nice goal. The Bottom 6 worked their ass off when the Rangers had chances in the o zone.

    They gotta stop w/stretch passes against Carolina too. They controlled the neutral zone. By stretching. Gotta get better.

    Having said that, disappointed they couldn’t get the win. Can’t win em all, and you can’t expect to score lots of goals like the did against the Pens and Predators. Although they absolutely can. If the Rangers play a good offensive cycle game in the Canes zone, plus play overall better at retrieving the puck, I have faith against them. Anyway, onto the Canes again on Thursday. Not fully disappointed. Just frustrated. On to the Canes.

22. That was a bit of a gut punch

23. Thought we played a generally decent game despite being back on our heels pretty much from the beginning. Schneider was *really* struggling to complete a zone exit and that has consistently been an issue of his.

    I wouldn’t say Jones is necessarily the answer as I don’t love his board play, but his puck moving ability would surely make a night and day difference on that third pair.

    Might sound crazy, but I honestly think Harpur/Schneider should alternate games. Mikkola has really come into his own on this roster.

24. Welp that was a nice little preview of playoff hockey. Complete with lapses of judgment on defense and a boatload of broken plays. I expected that game to be a little sweatier than usual so I’m not totally in shock they lost, but it was at least a somewhat competitive game. Hopefully they can adjust for Thursday.

25. There is a lot of positive sentiment here. Is it good to lose to Carolina, a team that we’ll probably play in the playoffs? I am a bit disappointed that our top 2 lines didn’t produce tonight. It’s great beating up the penguins and predators but neither will be in the playoffs.

    I’m just a bit disappointed we don’t show up against the match ups that’s stand between us and a cup.

    I expect more

26. It was an interesting game to watch. I felt the 1st wasn’t bad at all. The 2nd had us scrambling a bit but we held our own which was nice to see. The Canes are good and fast. 4th line was solid again which is great to see. Too many turnovers and not being there for the rebounds. We had some really good chances if we were in position to get those rebounds. At the end they made a valiant effort to come back, but we needed a little more time. It’s on to the next one Thursday and time to knock them down. LGR!

27. My internet kept cutting in and out so I missed out on quite a bit and couldn’t get a general flow for the game. That being said, I don’t think we played too terribly, actually. Game reminded me a lot of a Playoff style game and was very reminiscent of our series with them last year; fairly tight with scoring coming through opportunistic chances. We had the few defensive breakdowns but all in all I feel like they managed things fairly well. Canes play a very suffocating kind of style so I’m not surprised that we couldn’t gain the neutral/offensive zone well at times, especially as the game went on. I also think it’s worth keeping in mind that if not for Boston going on their insane run this year, Canes would be the best team in the league (second in standings atm). This is all to say it wasn’t going to be an easy game and even since last year I think the Canes have really elevated their game.

    Overall, I think this will be a really good game for review. I’m very interested in seeing how we respond next game, as well, how the end of the year will go since many games will be with Playoff teams or those fighting hard for a spot. Hopefully we have a good response.

    Finally, shout out to Lindy (just glad to see him back; hope he stays healthy), Igor for being sharp as hell, and Motte…poor guy is getting so beat up this time around but continues to put in full effort.

    See you guys in a couple days!

28. Some bizarre out-of-town scores tonight, which weren’t my preferred results but make me feel better about this loss tbh. Flyers 6-3 over the Panthers? Preds 7-3 over the Sabres?? Isles 7-2 over the Leafs??? Columbus 7-6 over the Capitals???? Is it a full moon or something????? So no need for anyone to go scorched earth imo, take a deep breath and let’s see how they respond in “Game 2” on Thursday.

29. To many break downs in our end. Igor had no chance on the last two carolina goals.
    Miller was terrible so was the PP no adjustments in game. We got pushed around pretty good. I was not a fan of the trades at the deadline. Thought we need more muscle on D. Anyway. Let’s forget this one and just move on.