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Rangers vs. Hurricanes: A Lot To Be Thankful For

The Rangers score six goals in Thanksgiving Eve rout of Carolina Hurricanes

Before we start, on behalf of everyone at Blueshirt Banter, Happy Thanksgiving! And if you aren’t celebrating, Happy Thursday. The weekend is almost here!

  • The New York Rangers took the Carolina Hurricanes to the woodshed on Wednesday night, and it was a bit surprising. This season the Hurricanes have been a team that tends to control play and puck possession, but they just didn’t have it against the Rangers.
  • It was almost if Hurricanes were skating through a food coma, because they looked a bit sluggish after a strong-ish first period in which they put a lot of pucks on net.
  • On the bright side, the 6-1 victory was an opportunity for Henrik Lundqvist to relax a bit, and he made 32 saves on the evening including these amazing stops in the first frame. /
  • The majority of his saves, 16 to be specific, came in the first period. Carolina registered 17 shots, scored once on the power play, and then only took 16 shots the rest of the game. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • On the scoring front there were a number of firsts for Rangers in the lineup including:
  • Paul Carey’s first goal as a Ranger/
  • Jesper Fast’s first career two-goal game which featured an amazing pass by Steven Kampfer for his first point of the season as well./
  • The evening also saw two members of the KZB line tally two points. Chris Kreider snagged two goals and Mika Zibanejad picked up a goal and an assist, but this time there were none for Pavel Buchnevich, bye.
  • Zibanejad’s goal is probably the easiest he will score this season, as Scott Darling botched the play while looking like an outfielder losing a fly ball in the stadium lights. /
  • Ryan McDonagh missed the game with an injury; he will not play Friday vs. the Detroit Red Wings and he may not play Sunday vs. the Vancouver Canucks either./
  • In his absence, the Rangers’ defense was a mixed bag in terms of possession, but four defenders picked up a point including Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith, Nick Holden and Kampfer. Holden finished with a CF% of 65.85 (+13) and Smith finished with a CF% of 63.04 (+12). This also was a rare quiet game for Kevin Shattenkirk who was kept off the score sheet.
  • Other players who picked up a point were Jimmy “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” Vesey, Kevin “Primary Points” Hayes, “Slick” Rick Nash and Jonathan Tanner Miller.
  • Enjoy the day and if you want a quick way to catch all of the goals scored by the Rangers, check out this tweet./
  • The Rangers (11-9-2 and 24 points) will play next on Friday November 24 vs. the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden./

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