What has seemed to simply be a formality for weeks for the Carolina Hurricanes became official Saturday night. With a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers, the Canes have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for a ninth consecutive season.
Despite firing 41 shots on Rangers (34-36-9) goalie Henrik Lundqvist, the Canes (35-33-11) could only find the back of the net once on a third-period tally by Jeff Skinner. Canes goalie Cam Ward stopped 18 of 20 Rangers shots.
“It’s been a grind,” head coach Bill Peters said. “It’s been a grind for quite awhile here. Obviously mathematically alive, but realistically not so much. I thought the guys played well last night, played hard last night, had some detail to our game. We came off it a little bit tonight.”
Special teams proved to be a key factor in this one, as the Canes went 0 for 3 on the power play, including one with Ward on the bench for an extra skater and a chance to tie the game with 1:14 remaining, and the Rangers’ game winner in the second period came shorthanded.
“It would have been nice to get one on the power play,” Skinner said. “Execution wasn’t there. I think overall, we had enough chances five-on-five, too, to be able to get one by [Lundqvist]. We just weren’t able to get one. It seems to be a prominent thing that’s happened a bunch this year.”
The Canes came inches from taking a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game, but forward Brock McGinn’s shot from the right circle rang off the goal post and out.
The Rangers got their own golden opportunity about seven minutes in, but Ward stoned New York forward Filip Chytil on a clear-cut breakaway.
New York took a 1-0 lead barely three minutes into the second period; defenseman Ryan Sproul was left all alone between the circles and snapped a shot top shelf over to open the scoring.
With the Canes on a power play with 6:37 left in the second period, it was the Rangers that took advantage, doubling their lead with a shorthanded goal off a two-on-one rush from forward Kevin Hayes to make it 2-0.
“I don’t think we played a bad game,” forward Jordan Staal said. “Some bigger mistakes, some grade-A chances. They didn’t make any big mistakes for grade-As.. We found a way to get one, but in the end, our bigger mistkaes cost us.”
The Canes finally found the back of the net about eight minutes into the third period, as Skinner finished off a slick feed from behind the net by forward Derek Ryan.
Carolina continued to push from there, pulled Ward for an extra skater with 2:40 to play and even got a power play to make it a six-on-four advantage with 1:14 to play, but could not get another puck past Lundqvist and fell by one goal for the 22nd time this season.
With three games to go, it is now official that the NHL’s longest active playoff drought will hit nine seasons. Despite that, the Canes know they need to come to work and take pride in how they play to finish out the year, starting with Monday’s trip south to take on the Florida Panthers.
“There’s a lot of tough things, but showing up to the rink and playing hockey shouldn’t be one of them,” Skinner said. “This is the NHL; it’s the best league in the world. Anytime you go out there, you’re trying to play hard for your teammates and take pride in playing in this league.”
Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner shows his disappointment after a play during the game against the New York Rangers in PNC Arena. The Canes lost to the Rangers, 1-2, Saturday, March 31.
