Rangers dig deep to rally despite being ‘a tired hockey team’

RALEIGH, N.C. — Less than 24 hours removed from their 8 p.m. matchup against the Lightning in Tampa the previous night, an emotional 2-1 win, the Rangers understandably looked a little gassed facing another high-powered squad in the Hurricanes on Sunday.

Goalie Alexandar Georgiev, however, withstood tremendous pressure and put forth his best performance of the season with 44 saves to propel the Rangers to a 2-0 win at PNC Arena.

“We were a tired hockey team,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “I’m not holding any punches back. We get in at two o’clock in the morning and got to play a six o’clock game from playing a good game last night. They were all over us, they dominated, but we found a way to get two points. It was a huge two points for us and we’ll take it, we’ll go home and have a day off tomorrow.”

The Rangers have now competed in three straight playoff-style games, getting a much-needed taste of what the pace and atmosphere could be like in just over a month. For a team that has very few players with postseason experience, the Rangers have more than held their own in these low-scoring contests.

In fact, the Blueshirts are continuing to build on parts of their game and grow as a team in the process.

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“I wish you were on the bench because I was pushing hard,” Gallant said. “We’ll never give in on the bench, I mean, I was tough. Today was probably one of my worst days on the bench from trying to push. In my mind, I know they were tired, but I’m not going to give in and we’re not going to let them go.

“It was 60 minutes and that’s our job, we’ve got to push them as hard as we can.”

The Rangers rolled with the same lineup for a third straight game, with recently acquired forward Frank Vatrano on the right wing of the second line next to Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.

Former Blueshirt Tony DeAngelo returned to the Hurricanes’ lineup on Sunday after missing the past 11 games with an upper-body injury. The last time DeAngelo faced the Rangers, a 6-3 loss on Jan. 21, the defenseman scored a goal and dished two assists in his first game against his former team.

Gallant said he did get an explanation from referee Chris Rooney, who mistakenly whistled a play dead in the second period when Filip Chytil scored on a wraparound.

“He thought the puck was covered,” the coach said. “He just said he blew it and he explained it to me, just said, ‘I’m sorry, the puck wasn’t covered.’ He said, ‘I thought it was covered.’ What do you do?”