The New York Rangers look to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals with a victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the second round tonight at MSG.
Rangers drop first game of the postseason in Game 4 to the Hurricanes
Game 4 didn’t go as planned for the Blueshirts on Saturday night in Raleigh. The Hurricanes took a 3-l lead at the end of the first period. The Rangers didn’t go down without a fight, battling back beginning with a second-period goal by Wil Cuylle and an early, off-the-back-of-the-goalie goal from Alexis Lafreniere.
However, the Hurricanes ultimately secured their win following a power-play goal late in the third.
HC Peter Laviolette remains confident in his team
Peter Laviolette didn’t think the outcome was due to a lack of readiness:
“We dug ourselves a hole early,” Blueshirts coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t think it was because we weren’t ready to play. The (scoring) chances were probably 7-6 us, or 6-6, somewhere in that area. It wasn’t a lot, but the ones that we gave up were pretty noisy. They were loud, and we gotta come out a little bit sharper than that. We’re competing. We were working. We were trying to do our job offensively, but there’s some things defensively that I felt we could have been a little bit better in the first period.”
via Vince Mercoigliano of Lohud
Turnovers were the biggest culprit of Game 4, especially in the first period, where the Rangers had trouble handling the ‘Cane’s desperate push. The team settled down after that period but was never able to take the lead despite tying the game at 3 in the second period.
The Rangers are ready to advance to the ECF with their next game at home
Monday night at the Garden, the team will look to win a game that will vault them to the Eastern Conference Finals, just four wins away from the Stanley Cup Final. No team is perfect, and the Rangers showed that by taking a 7-0 record before Saturday’s loss.
Defenseman Adam Fox feels the team remains confident heading to Game 5 on home ice.
“Overall, I thought the effort was there,” Fox said. “We would have loved to be able to win this game here and move on, but you know they’re not going go down too easy. So, regroup, learn from some of the mistakes, and try and get that win on home ice.”
via Vince Mercoigliano of Lohud
The Rangers remain perfect on home ice with a 4-0 record and look to the Garden faithful for the home-ice advantage on Monday night. A win would give the club a small break in the playoff schedule. The winner of the NYR-CAR series will face the winner of the BOS-FLA series in the ECF. The Florida Panthers hold a 3-1 series lead after Sunday’s win in Boston. Game 5 of that series will be on Tuesday in Florida.
Filip Chytil is dealing with an illness
Filip Chytil was scratched from the lineup on Saturday night with what the team called an “illness.” He played in his first game since Nov. 2nd in Game 3 on the third line. He woke up on Saturday morning and reportedly wasn’t feeling well. The club had no further comment on his status after Saturday’s game.
Follow Frank on X at @RangerProud