The Carolina Hurricanes added to their lead in the Metropolitan Division and ended a stretch of futility at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
The Canes fought past the Rangers, 4-2, behind goalie Frederik Andersen, some tough penalty killing and timely goals from Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho and their captain, Jordan Staal.
Aho had a goal and two assists and Jarvis a goal and assist for the Canes (48-18-8), who moved to 104 points and four points ahead of the Rangers in the Metro with eight games left in the regular season. Svechnikov scored his 29th of the season and Staal his sixth goal in past four games.
That made a winner of Andersen, who had 28 saves, and offset Chris Kreider's 50th goal the season, which came after the Rangers pulled goalie Igor Shesterkin for an extra attacker. Defenseman K'Andre Miller had scored early in the second for New York.
Svechnikov tied the score 1-1 for the Canes and Jarvis pushed Carolina into the lead early in the third. Aho assisted on both goals in his 100th career multi-point game and defenseman Brady Skjei also had two assists.
When Staal collected a rebound between the circles and ripped a shot past Shesterkin, the Canes led 3-1 with 13:18 left in regulation. Aho's empty-net goal sealed the victory.
The Rangers had owned the series in Madison Square Garden, winning 18 of the past 19 games in New York before Tuesday.
Talk about two even teams:
The Canes ranked first in the NHL in goals allowed per game (2.37) and the Rangers third (2.52) entering the game while both Andersen and Shesterkin had 34 wins and took 2.07 goals-against averages.
The Rangers had the league's second-ranked power play and the Canes were first in penalty-killing. Carolina killed off all four penalties.
Svechnikov's goal came off the rush and an alert play. Collecting the rebound of a Seth Jarvis shot below the goal line, he backhanded the puck and banked it off Shesterkin's pad and into the net.
Alexandar Georgiev had 44 saves in shutting out Carolina 2-0 on March 20, and the Canes ' goal against Shesterkin came on their 12th shot of the game.
The Rangers had scored the game's first goal early in the second period. After forcing a turnover by Svechnikov entering the New York zone, Miller jumped into the rush and went backdoor for his seventh of the season off a Mika Zibanejad feed.
Because of the pandemic, it was the Canes' first trip to Madison Square Garden since Dec. 27, 2019, and some of the players wearing Rangers sweaters that game now play for the Canes: defenseman Brendan Smith, Skjei and Tony DeAngelo; and forwards Jesper Fast and Derek Stepan — Stepan was a healthy scratch in Tuesday's game.
The Rangers owned the puck much of the opening period, outshooting the Canes 14-8 and forcing a pair of penalties with their forecheck. The Canes killed both off but were forced to do a lot of hard work in their zone.
One highlight from the first period was the Canes' Fast being recognized for his seven seasons with the Rangers. He got stick taps from both teams and tapped his heart as Rangers fans gave him an ovation.
