NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad had two goals and two assists, and the New York Rangers extended their home winning streak against the Carolina Hurricanes to 16 games with a 6-2 victory at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
New York has won every home game against Carolina since Jan. 5, 2011. It’s the longest home winning streak for the Rangers against any opponent.
Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for his first win in four games this month for the Rangers (19-20-7), who went 3-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Rangers highlights]
The Rangers lost six of their previous seven games, including 7-5 at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, when coach David Quinn was critical of their effort and battle level.
“We had played three good games before the debacle in Columbus and I think we built off that,” Quinn said. “We moved past what happened in Columbus. The guys took ownership of it and righted a wrong.”
Video: [email protected]: Kreider connects with Zibanejad for PPG
Saku Maenalanen had his first two-goal game in the NHL, and Curtis McElhinney made 22 saves for Carolina (22-19-5), which won its previous two games and seven of eight since Dec. 31.
“I don’t think we had enough guys emotionally invested,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was a little flat and the special teams just killed us. Once we got behind the eight ball it was tough to get rolling. We need a little more from some guys and we just didn’t have it tonight.”
Pavel Buchnevich and Tony DeAngelo each scored two goals, Mats Zuccarello had three assists and Chris Kreider and Boo Nieves each had two assists for New York.
DeAngelo gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 76 seconds into the first period when he scored on a wrist shot through traffic. Maenalanen tied it 1-1 at 9:24, capitalizing on a Rangers defensive zone turnover for an unassisted goal.
Video: [email protected]: DeAngelo stakes Rangers to early lead
The Rangers had a 3-1 lead less than five minutes later on back-to-back goals from Zibanejad, who had his third four-point game of the season
He made it 2-1 with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Kreider at 12:41, and 3-1 1:41 later off another one-timer from the slot, this time at even-strength off a pass from Zuccarello.
Buchnevich extended the lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 3:41 of the second period and Lundqvist kept it that way with a difficult right-pad save while dropping his stick on Warren Foegele with 2:45 remaining in the period.
“It felt good to keep it 4-1 going into the third, not giving them any confidence or energy,” Lundqvist said.
Video: [email protected]: Buchnevich pots second PPG of the game
Buchnevich extended the lead to 5-1 with another power-play goal at 4:19 of the third.
Maenalanen, playing his ninth NHL game, cut it to 5-2 at 11:51 but DeAngelo scored 1:04 later to make it 6-2.
“Opportunities are there for us every night and to not come through with the two points that we wanted, that we came here to get, yeah, it’s disappointing, it stinks,” Carolina captain Justin Williams said. “We don’t have the luxury of having those games certainly with where we’re at.”
Video: [email protected]: Maenalanen tips in second of the game
They said it
“We’ve been saying it all year, if we don’t have everybody dialed in it’s going to look like that. We just didn’t have everyone going. It’s unfortunate this time of year but you’re going to have those here and there. It’s a long year and we just gotta regroup now and put this one behind us.” — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour
“If you have to point at one thing tonight that really helped, special teams. Unbelievable. Power play obviously, but also the penalty kill. I can’t tell you how much that helps the team, how much confidence that gives the group when you’re able to cash in on their penalties and also make sure you don’t give up a goal on the PK.” — Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist
Video: [email protected]: Lundqvist stymies Foegele with pad save
Need to know
The Rangers had three players score at least two goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 22, 1996, when Mark Messier, Alexei Kovalev and Niklas Sundstrom did it against the Florida Panthers. … Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren played 15:22 and had one shot on goal, three hits and three blocked shots in his NHL debut. The 20-year-old was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Lundqvist appeared in his 838th NHL game, passing Hall of Famer Jacques Plante for 12th place on the League’s all-time games played list among goalies. … Zibanejad had two goals and two assists in a 5-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 23, and four assists in a 4-3 win at the Nashville Predators on Dec. 29. … DeAngelo played his 100th NHL game. … Williams had his five-game goal streak and seven-game point streak end. … Justin Faulk tied Dave Babych for the most points by a defenseman in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history with 240. … Carolina forward Victor Rask had his 100th NHL assist. … Carolina is 0-13-3 in its losing streak at New York.
What’s next
Hurricanes: Host the Ottawa Senators on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, MSG, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)
Video: Zibanejad’s four-point night leads Rangers to 6-2 win
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