RALEIGH, N.C. — The win against the Hurricanes was balm for the Rangers' soul, but the loss was like more inflammation.
The Blueshirts' losing streak reached four games Wednesday night after the visiting team lost a 4-3 loss to Carolina in front of a crowd at the Lenovo Center, giving up a third-period lead.
A win against the Hurricanes in particular probably would have taken some of the burden off the Rangers for a myriad of reasons. Rather, it was just an accumulation of several turbulent days.
Not only are the Canes the No. 2 team in the NHL and the No. 1 club in the Metropolitan Division, but they're also a top-level, difficult organization to play against that has set them apart from the Rangers in recent years. . The Rangers, who have defeated Carolina twice in the past two playoffs, have typically been on the winning side in even games against Carolina.
It's not Wednesday.
Team morale is clearly at its lowest point during the losing streak, given the news that president and general manager Chris Drury has broken the news to the remaining NHL members that he is looking to revamp the Rangers' lineup. Team morale probably wasn't needed the most at a time. .
The Rangers, who have taken more than 40 shots in their past three games, have lost seven times in the 12 games they have played this month regardless of the outcome.
The Rangers held a 3-2 lead at the start of the third period, but were never trapped in their own half for the first 40 minutes.
But it didn't matter. Jesper Kotkaniemi scored on a loopback from Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin to tie the score with 10:06 left in regulation time.
Then, a hooking penalty on Vincent Trocheck sent the Hurricanes into a power play with 9¹/₂ minutes left in regulation.
Jackson Blake crashed into the middle of the zone without any resistance, easily passing Shesterkin and regaining the lead, which Carolina would hold on to for the rest of the game.
Despite the first period ending 1-1 on paper and on the scoreboard, the Hurricanes took advantage of opening up the middle frame on the power play.
Ryan Lindgren lost sight of Seth Jarvis' backdoor, allowing the Carolina forward to easily tap in a cross-zone feed from Martin Necas.
But a 2-on-1 rush between Brett Berard and Mika Zibanejad came late in the period, but the Rangers rookie opted to take it himself before scoring his first NHL goal and making it a 2-on-2 game. did.
The Rangers may have struggled to break out of their zone the rest of the period, but a hustle play from Riley Smith allowed them to take their first lead of the night.
Smith won the contest for the puck and backhanded the puck to Adam Edstrom, who punched it in for the fourth liner to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead going into the third period.
The Rangers have been weak in the first few minutes of games lately, but in this game they started to calm down as the first period progressed.
After Carolina's Jack Drury (yes, Chris Drury's nephew) took the lead with a difficult angle on his first shot less than five minutes into the game, the Rangers entered the offensive zone and stayed there. I continued to struggle with this.
Ditching the puck and chasing it only works if you intend to win the race to the puck. Their zone penetrations were easily stopped by the Hurricanes, just as they had been in previous years. The Hurricanes, as always, went headlong into their straight-line brand of hockey.
However, as the visitors began to maintain zone time, Jimmy Vesey fed Johnny Brodzinski high up and fired a shot that brought the bar down, tying the score at one-all towards the end of the opening frame. It has expanded.
