Rangers blow lead and fall to rival Hurricanes as losing skid hits four

RALEIGH, N.C. — As much as a win over the Hurricanes would’ve been medicine for the Rangers’ soul, a loss was like further inflammation.

The Blueshirts losing streak reached four games Wednesday night, after the visitors blew a third-period lead in a 4-3 loss to Carolina in front of a split-and-invested crowd at Lenovo Center.

A victory over the Hurricanes in particular probably would have alleviated some weight off the Rangers for a myriad of reasons. Instead, it has only piled onto what has been a tumultuous few days.

The Canes are not only the third-ranked team in the NHL and the No. 2 club in the Metropolitan Division, they’re a top-tier, hard-to-play-against organization the Rangers have set themselves apart from in recent years.

Beating Carolina twice in their past two playoff runs, the Rangers have usually come out on the winning side in going toe-to-toe with that team.

Not on Wednesday.

Not when they probably needed it most for team morale, which has certainly taken a hit amid the losing streak and news that president and general manager Chris Drury has signaled to the rest of the NHL that he is looking to shake up the Rangers lineup.

Not even with a one-goal lead at the start of the third period.

“We’re going through a little bit of adversity as a group,” captain Jacob Trouba said after the Rangers were outshot for the seventh time in the 12 games they’ve played this month. “Everybody knows it’s probably a better effort for us, but there’s not really any moral victories at this level. We’ve got to keep grinding, keep putting the work in and turn this thing around as a group.”

Defending a 3-2 lead at the start of the third period, the Rangers were not hemmed in their zone nearly as much as they had been through the first 40 minutes.

It did not matter, however, as Jesper Kotkaniemi scored on a wraparound on Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to even the score with 10:06 left in regulation.

A Vincent Trocheck hooking penalty then sent the Hurricanes onto the power play with 9 ¹/₂ minutes left in regulation.

Jackson Blake crashed the middle of the zone without any resistance and put one past Shesterkin with ease to regain a lead that Carolina would hang onto for the remainder of the game.

“It was pretty tight the entire game,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They found a way in the third.”

Despite a first period that came out even on paper and on the scoreboard, 1-1, the Hurricanes took advantage of opening the middle frame on a power play.

Ryan Lindgren lost track of Seth Jarvis backdoor, which allowed the Carolina forward to easily tap in a cross-zone feed from Martin Necas.

A 2-on-1 rush for Brett Berard and Mika Zibanejad materialized later in the period, however, with the Rangers rookie opting to take it himself before sniping his first NHL goal to make it a 2-2 game.

The Rangers may have struggled to get out of their zone for the remainder of the period, but a hustle play from Reilly Smith allowed them to snag their first lead of the night.

Smith won the battle for the puck, backhanded it to Adam Edstrom, and the fourth-liner tapped it in to give the Rangers a 3-2 edge entering the third period.

There was a collective belief inside the Rangers locker room that they had played a better game than they have recently, but the issues that have plagued them over the past month or so continue to be debilitating.

Dumping and chasing the puck only works if you’re going to win the race to the puck.

Their zone entries were — as they have been — easily thwarted by the Hurricanes, who got right to their straight-line brand of hockey as usual.

“Four in a row is four in a row,” Ryan Lindgren said. “We’ve got to change that.”