Traverse City Recap: Rangers vs. Hurricanes
The New York Rangers prospects dropped their first game of the Traverse City Prospect tournament by a score of 4-3 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
In their opening game of the 2013 Traverse City Prospect tournament, the New York Rangers fell to the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 4-3. Despite the score, the Rangers actually played a really, really strong game in the offensive zone, and could have easily put up a handful of goals. However, they often made the extra pass when they should have shot, and shot when they should have made the extra pass. It's the type of mistakes you would expect from a group that has only been together for only a few days.
Danny Kristo was also a major standout, as expected, and lead the Rangers with a game high eight shots on goal. From the condensed game video, Kristo was quick on his feet, strong along the boards, and had a tremendous release in stride. He's going to make it very hard for the Rangers brass to send him home when training camp rolls around.
The Rangers found themselves in a quick 2-0 hole as goals from Victor Rask, and Sergey Tolchinsky (ugh) got the Canes' on the board. Just minutes after the Hurricanes made it 2-0, Josh Nicholls converted on the power play to bring the Rangers back within one. Heading into the final period, the Rangers needed a strong start in order to jump back into the game
Unfortunately for them, they wound up doing the exact opposite. Zack Mitchell would put the Hurricanes up 3-1 just a few minutes into the third period, and the Rangers had an even steeper hill to climb. With about five minutes remaining, Andrew Yogan and Michael St. Croix connected a pretty behind the back passing play to bring the Rangers within a goal once again.
The Hurricanes answered right back with another goal coming from Brock McGinn, which all but sealed the deal. The Rangers were able to get one final tally with five seconds remaining as Oscar Lindberg tapped in a rebound off a shot from Danny Kristo on the power play.
Mackenzie Skapski, the Rangers 2013 6th-round pick, turned away 21 of the 25 shots he faced. It is expected that Jeff Malcolm will get the start in goal later today as the Rangers take on the Buffalo Sabres at 4:00 PM.
