Wojtek Wolski helps New York Rangers beat Carolina Hurricanes 4-3
Wojtek Wolski lit the lamp with the game-winner in the shootout to push the New York Rangers past the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 at RBC Centre on Tuesday night.
Ryan Callahan and Mike Sauer each also found the net for New York, who snapped a two-game skid. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots and Brandon Prust had another goal in the win.
Jussi Jokinen notched two goals and Jay Harrison also added a goal for Carolina, who fell to 3-5-3 this month. Cam Ward was beaten for three goals on 46 shots in the setback.
Harrison said after the game, "To have the lead and let it go, it is a tough way. Shootout loss is always, always tough. But we fought hard. It was another playoff- style game for us."
New York drew first blood just two minutes into the opening stanza to take a 1-0 lead. The move started when Sean Avery tried a wraparound at the left post, which was stopped by Ward. However, the rebound trickled to the opposite post where Prust jammed
the puck into the back of the cage for his ninth goal of the season.
Carolina then tied the game at 1-1 with nearly three and a half minutes left in the same period. The goal came when a turnover by New York at the blue line led to a breakaway by Harrison, who rushed in all alone and ripped a low wrist shot which hit the
left post. The puck then bounced off the back of Lundqvist's leg and flipped over the goal line.
The Hurricanes got a chance to score late in the middle session on a short-handed breakaway, but Captain Eric Staal’s shot was blocked. However, New York restored their lead at 2-1 with 14 seconds left in the second period, as Mats Zuccarello released a
shot from the central point and Callahan deflected it past Ward from the top of the crease.
Jokinen then pulled the Hurricanes even at 2-2 early in the final frame, and less than three minutes later, he struck again to extend Carolina’s lead to 3-2. It started when Harrison blasted a shot from the left point, which did not get through completely.
However, Jokinen grabbed the loose puck in front, went to his backhand and hit the puck past the goalie from the top of the crease.
New York then tied it up at 3-3 with almost two minutes left in the third period. Wolski controlled the puck along the lower portion of the left circle and let go a centring pass, but the disc redirected off Harrison’s stick and bounced over the goal line,
sending the game into overtime.
Both teams failed to find the back of the net in the extra period. Then the shootout began and neither team was able to score through the first two rounds. Lundqvist then made a great save on a shot by Sergei Samsonov; the third Hurricanes shooter. Wolski
wrapped up the final scoring at 4-3, rushing in and beating Ward with a high wrist shot as New York celebrated the win.
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