Hurricanes rally in 3rd, hand Rangers 4th straight loss

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jackson Blake scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied for a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers at Lenovo Center on Wednesday.

Blake took a pass from Jack Drury between the circles and beat Igor Shesterkin with a wrist shot past the blocker for a 4-3 lead at 12:01.

“(Shesterkin) is obviously one of the best. I knew that coming into the game,” Blake said. “Great play by Jack. I just had to finish it there.”

The goal came after Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored on a wraparound that trickled between Shesterkin’s five-hole to tie the game 3-3 at 9:44.

Drury had a goal and an assist, and Martin Necas had two assists to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, six assists) for the Hurricanes (16-5-1), who are 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Spencer Martin made 19 saves.

The Hurricanes have won nine straight at home.

“We were good, I thought, the whole game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I did not think we were off at all. A 60-minute effort. They had their chances, but I thought it was a good hockey game.”

Brett Berard scored his first NHL goal in his second game for the Rangers (12-8-1), who have lost four straight. Adam Edstrom and Jonny Brodzinski also scored, and Shesterkin made 27 saves.

“The effort was good, (but) nobody feels good,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We ended up losing a hockey game we were winning going into the third period.”

Drury gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 4:53 of the first period when he put a shot from a tight angle below the left circle over Shesterkin’s right shoulder.

“We practice shooting from a lot of different angles,” Drury said. “I’ve taken that shot a few times. When you’ve worked on it in practice, it gives you confidence during the game.”

Brodzinski tied it 1-1 at 17:38. Jimmy Vesey got to a loose puck behind the net and fired a touch pass to Brodzinski between the circles for a snap shot.

Seth Jarvis put Carolina ahead 2-1 at 1:12 of the second with a power-play goal when he tapped in a cross-ice pass from Necas at the right post.

Berard kept the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Martin with a short-side wrist shot from the left circle to tie it 2-2 at 9:13.

The Rangers took a 3-2 lead at 18:49. Reilly Smith slipped past Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov and fed a backhand to Edstrom for his second of the season.

“Playing a team like Carolina, there’s going to be a lot of back and forth,” Smith said. “They’re kind of a high-opportunity team. We did enough to put ourselves in position to win tonight. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

Prior to the losing streak, the Rangers had not lost consecutive games all season.

“We’re going through a little bit of adversity as a group,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “Everybody knows it’s probably a better effort for us, but there aren’t really any moral victories at this level. So keep grinding, keep putting the work in and turn this thing around as a group.”

Martin earned his second straight win, filling in for injured goalies Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. He made 15 saves in a 6-4 win against the Dallas Stars on Monday.

“We put him in a bit of a tough spot, and obviously he was thrown to the wolves a little bit,” Brind’Amour said. “But he’s handled it. That’s crucial.”

NOTES: Shesterkin has allowed at least three goals in each of his past four starts. … Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho, who earned the secondary assist on Jarvis’s goal, has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a three-game point streak. … Orlov earned a secondary assist on Drury’s goal and has an assist in each of the past six games. … Necas leads the NHL with 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) and has points in 19 of Carolina’s 22 games.