Rangers get past Hurricanes, win 6th straight

NEW YORK -- Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to 10 games to start the season, and the New York Rangers won their sixth straight game, 2-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Panarin got an assist on Chris Kreider's NHL-leading fifth power-play goal in the first period. His streak is the longest by a Rangers player to open a season since Darren Turcotte’s 11-game run in 1990-91.

Will Cuylle scored the game-winner with 9:39 remaining in the third period, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for the Rangers (8-2-0), who were coming off a 5-0-0 road trip to Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

"We were in a good spot coming off that road trip and we wanted to continue it," New York captain Jacob Trouba said. "This is not an easy game to play coming off the West Coast. There's no excuses coming into it, but in reality it's not an easy game to play when you're playing one at home and heading back on the road (at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday). But we found a way in that third period."

Seth Jarvis scored, and Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for the Hurricanes (6-5-0), who had a three-game winning streak end. They went on the penalty kill five times, including three in the first period.

"Taking five penalties is not the way to win," Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei said. "Trying to stay out of the box in the future is huge, especially against a team like this. We didn't quite have it tonight."

New York lost defenseman Adam Fox (lower body) and forward Filip Chytil (upper body) to injury. Fox's last shift ended with 5:37 left in the first. Chytil's last shift ended with 6:34 remaining in the second.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said both players will be evaluated Friday.

"'Fil' and 'Foxy' are really important players for us, so hopefully everything will be good," Shesterkin said. "We just tried to play our game. Cuylle stepped up in the big moment."

Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 2:41, scoring in front off a pass from Panarin out of the right corner. Panarin has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) during his streak.

The Rangers were 1-for-5 on the power play but 0-for-3 without Fox, who was replaced on the top unit by Erik Gustafsson. 

"Guys are going to have to step up," Trouba said. "If he's out any period of time, he's obviously a huge player in this League, a huge player for our team. It'll be on guys to step up."

Jarvis tied it 1-1 with his fourth power-play goal at 9:53 of the first after Sebastian Aho found him cutting up the middle. Jarvis got behind Trouba and Ryan Lindgren and beat Shesterkin with a high forehanded shot to the glove side.

"The first period was no good because we were in the box," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were lucky to come out of that 1-1. Our power play made a nice play to tie the game. That's all we had that period because we were in the box."

The Hurricanes had the puck more in the second period and finished with a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal, leading to Laviolette telling the Rangers in the second intermission that they needed "more bite in their game."

They delivered with more of an attack mentality to start the third, and Cuylle made it 2-1 midway through the period.

Trouba started the play by taking the puck down the right-wing wall into the corner. Cuylle said he locked eyes with Trouba before cutting backdoor behind Jarvis. Trouba delivered the puck to the front, and Cuylle knocked it in for his second NHL goal.

"I saw him pinch down the wall and get the puck, and I saw a little lane and tried to sprint to the back post," Cuylle said. "He made a great pass to find me. I was pretty excited. First goal at MSG, and it was a big one."

It was the Rangers' 10th shot of the period. Carolina had five at the time.

"We came out, we were on the attack and eventually got ourselves a goal," Laviolette said. "And then at that point it's about playing defense." 

The Hurricanes pushed back and outshot the Rangers 7-1 the rest of the way. Carolina also missed the net on five attempts and had three blocked after New York scored the go-ahead goal.

"We actually had a good third period, but we took one breather," Brind'Amour said. "We came off our guy in the corner and he made a nice play, but that's not how we do it. That was frustrating."

NOTES: The Rangers’ eight wins are their most in the first 10 games of a season since they were 9-1-0 to start 1983-84. … Kreider's goal was the 272nd of his career, tying Andy Bathgate for fourth in New York history. … Panarin played his 600th NHL game.