For the first 49 and a half minutes Tuesday night, the Hurricanes-Rangers game in Madison Square Garden was an absolute slog.
The Rangers held a 1-0 lead thanks to a late first-period tally from Tyler Motte. The Canes held an edge in shots and chances, though Carolina really hadn’t mustered a scoring chance that ever really looked like it threatened New York netminder Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 36 of 39 shots faced by the end of the night.
But then the unlikeliest of Canes broke through, finally, as Jalen Chatfield came flying down the wing, collected a crisp pass from Derek Stepan and blasted a snipe past Shesterkin into the the roof of the net to make it 1-1.