Cuylle scores tiebreaking goal in 3rd as Rangers beat Hurricanes 2-1
NEW YORK (AP) — Will Cuylle scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Thursday night for their sixth straight win.
Chris Kreider also scored for the Rangers, who have eight wins in their first 10 games for the second time in franchise history. The 8-2-0 start is second only to a 9-1-0 mark to begin the 1983-84 season.
Seth Jarvis had the goal for Carolina, which had won three straight. Frederik Andersen finished with 24 saves.
Cuylle converted a pass from defenseman Jacob Trouba to score his second career goal past Andersen at 10:21 of the third.
“I saw him kind of pinch down the wall and get the puck and then I saw a little lane,'' Cuylle said of the play that led to his winning goal. “I tried to sprint to the back post and he made a great pass to find me.”
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has been impressed with Cuylle, who scored 25 goals for AHL Hartford last season and won a roster spot out of training camp.
“He's been really good. I like his speed and physicality,'' Laviolette said of the 21-year-old Cuylle, a second-round draft pick in 2020. ”That's obviously a big goal at the right time — in the third period. It gets us a win."
Andersen had stopped Artemi Panarin 4 1/2 minutes into the third with a pad save, then robbed Vincent Trocheck point-blank three minutes later during a Rangers power play before Cuylle snapped the 1-1 tie.
Shesterkin made 12 saves in the third to preserve the win, his sixth in eight games this season.
“It was a really tough game,'' Shesterkin said. ”We played our game and Cuylle stepped up. Great job."
The Rangers had five power-plays, keeping the Hurricanes off-balance for stretches of the tight game.
“Staying out of the box is huge against a team like this,'' Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei said. ”Our game got better as we went along but it wasn't enough tonight."
New York has won 10 of their last 14 regular-season games against the Hurricanes and the Rangers are 19-4-0 in their last 23 contests against Carolina at home.
“It's frustrating right now,'' Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. We had a pretty good third period but took one breather. That was a pretty even game. Both teams were playing hard."
Kreider opened the scoring for the Rangers on the power-play at 2:41 of the first. Kreider converted a backhand pass from Panarin after the Hurricanes were assessed a bench minor for too-many-men. It was Kreider's seventh of the season — fifth on a power play.
Kreider’s goal tied him with Andy Bathgate for fourth place on the Rangers' franchise goals list with 272.
Panarin’s assist extended his season-starting points streak to 10 games. Panarin — who played his 600th career game on Thursday — leads the Rangers with 16 points (five goals, 11 assists).
Jarvis tied it with a power-play goal at 9:53 of the opening period, rifling the puck past Shesterkin for his fifth.
The Rangers were returning home after winning all five games on their Western road trip following a 2-2-0 start.
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox left the game with a lower-body injury after the first. Fox appeared to suffer the injury in a leg-on-leg collision with Carolina’s Sebastian Aho with just under 8 minutes left in the opening period. The 25-year-old defenseman has three goals and eight assists this season.
Rangers forward Filip Chytil also suffered an upper-body injury and did not return for the third period. Chytil had collided with Carolina’s Jesper Fast in the first.
Laviolette said both players would be evaluated on Friday.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: At the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
Rangers: At Minnesota on Saturday night.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
