The New York Rangers beat Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 on Sunday night thanks to one of the best games Alexandar Georgiev has played for the Blueshirts making 44 saves and recording his first shut out of the year.
There are always games where a team leans on their goaltender to get a win. Then there are games like Sunday night where the New York Rangers were so outplayed and outshot that they had no business being on the same ice as the Carolina Hurricanes
Alexandar Georgiev is the only reason the Blueshirts took two points from the Hurricanes as he recorded his seventh career shut out getting a 2-0 victory.
Lucky
Head coach Gerrard Gallant acknowledge that the team was lucky to leave the state of Carolina with the win thanks to the play of their backup goaltender.
“We’re lucky today,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “I’d like to say we came in here and played a great game, but last night was a great game. Tonight was a great goaltender who was unbelievable. We were a tired hockey team. They were all over us. They dominated, but we found a way to get two points.”
The victory was Georgiev’s second consecutive win and ninth on the season. His 44 saves were a season-high and tied for the third-most in his career. Georgiev was obviously pleased with his game following the win.
“It felt pretty great. It’s been a long time since I had a game like that, where it’s not a lot of goals and a tight game until the end. I tried to enjoy that and be in the moment.”
Number 41
Chris Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead notching his 41st goal of the season. It was his third goal in his last four games as he is now tied for second place in goals scored behind Toronto’s Austin Mathews. Kreider has goals in six of his last 10 games and has 41 goals and 21 power-play goals this season. He is the fourth player in Rangers history (Jaromir Jagr – 2005-06, Mike Gartner – 1990-91, Vic Hadfield – 1971-72) to have at least both those totals in a season. Since 2007-08, Kreider is the third player to have at least 41 goals and 21 power-play goals in a season, joining Alex Ovechkin (3x) and Steven Stamkos.
Newly acquired Frank Vatrano scored an empty-net goal to seal the win. That was his first goal as a Ranger, becoming the 23rd different goal scorer for New York this season. Vatrano has 11 goals this season and three in his last four games. Vatrano notched his 20th point of the season, his fourth-straight season reaching the mark.
Vatrano has enjoyed his brief time with the Rangers and understands what a strong locker room can bring to a hockey team.
“That room is a bunch of will and knowing what it takes to win,” Vatrano said. “I’ve paid close attention to them and played against them a bunch. They’re a hard team to play against. They have a great mix of everyone in this lineup. I’m happy to be here and be a part of it and help this team win.”
The Rangers and the rest of the NHL now will sit back and wait to see what, if any, trades will be made with the NHL trade deadline expiring at 3 p.m. eastern time on Monday.
Post Game Notes
Jacob Trouba recorded his 250th career NHL point, becoming the third defenseman from the 2012 NHL Draft and 11th Michigan-born defenseman in NHL history to reach the milestone. Trouba has points in three-straight games (1G-2A) and in four of his last five games (1G-3A). Trouba notched five hits and two blocked shots. He is the only player in the NHL with at least 170 hits and 140 blocked shots this season.
– Alexis Lafrenière collected an assist for a third-straight game (3A), his longest point streak of the season, and tied for the second-longest of his career. Last season he had a four-game point streak from Feb. 26-Mar. 4 (2G-3A) and a three-game streak from Apr. 23-27 (2G-2A). Lafrenière has eight points (3G-5A) in his last 13 games.
– Frank Vatrano scored his first goal as a Ranger, becoming the 23rd different goal scorer for New York this season. Vatrano has 11 goals this season and three in his last four games. Vatrano notched his 20th point of the season, his fourth-straight season reaching the mark.
– Mika Zibanejad notched an assist on the Vatrano empty-net goal, giving him points in four of his last five games (3G-2A) and eight of his last 11 games (5G-4A).
The Rangers will host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.