Recap: Canes Top Rangers In Thanksgiving Eve Thriller

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes scored twice in the final frame to notch a second straight third-period comeback victory, ousting the New York Rangers 4-3 in front of a 78th straight sellout crowd at Lenovo Center on Wednesday.

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Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the first of those, netting his third of the year midway through the frame on a wraparound to level the score. Two minutes later, Jackson Blake rifled a wrister from the slot past Igor Shesterkin for the eventual game-winner at 12:01 on the power play.

After conceding 18 seconds into Monday's win over Dallas, the Canes were on the front foot to kick off Wednesday's game and opened the scoring at 4:53 of the first period on a seeing-eye snipe from Jack Drury in the left circle.

New York equalized late in the first, but another strong start to the second stanza restored Carolina's lead as Martin Necas fed Seth Jarvis a slick seam pass for a power-play tally just 1:13 into the frame. The Rangers went on to score twice in the back half of the period to take a 3-2 lead into the third, setting the stage for Carolina's second comeback thriller this week.

Spencer Martin picked up his second straight win with 20 saves on 23 shots.

Stats & Standouts

• With an assist on Jack Drury's first-period goal, Dmitry Orlov moved his point streak to six games. That's a new career-best for him.
• Although it took until the final second of the man advantage for it to fall, Seth Jarvis' second goal in as many games moved the power play's current run to four consecutive contests with a tally. That's now the second-longest streak of the season for the group, trailing only the five-game streak from 10/18-10/26.
• On a night where 10 different Canes found the scoresheet, Jack Drury earned first-star honors with the game's first goal and the primary assist on the game-winner to mark his first multi-point performance of the season.
• Jackson Blake's (7) third-period strike keeps him just one back of Philadelphia's Matvei Michkov (8) for the league lead by goals by a rookie.
• Another night, another multi-point contest for Martin Necas. He's now got 12 of those in 22 games. No one in the league has more.
• Carolina has now won nine straight games on home ice for the third time in franchise history, scoring four or more goals in each of those victories.

They Said It...

Jackson Blake describing his game-winning goal and the amount of time he had to shoot...

"We talked about (the pass) in the first period. We saw that [as an option]. It was a great job by KK and Rosey driving through, that opens that play up. It was a great play by Jacko and I just had to finish it... I was a little surprised. I took a little peek to see if anyone was next to me, so I settled it down - it was spinning a little bit. I just kind of picked my spot and it kind of went in."

Rod Brind'Amour on the second power play unit coming up with a timely tally...

"Great execution, right? The power play is about execution. You always have a plan, but do you execute it? Obviously, the penalty kill has a plan, but do they execute it? That's kind of what's happening. Everybody knows what everyone is doing, but you've got to execute. It's a great entry, obviously you've got to finish. (Jackson Blake) did that. That was obviously the difference in the game."

Jack Drury when asked what makes the team so resilient, after their second third-period comeback in as many games...

"We've got great leadership. It starts with the staff. They give us a lot of faith in ourselves, even when we're down. Then our veteran guys have been through it. They keep us confident, no matter what the score of the game is."

What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to be off on Thursday. They'll return to game action on Friday, starting a back-to-back, home-and-home set against the Florida Panthers.

Next Game: Friday, November 29 vs. Florida | 3:00 pm | Tickets | Parking