After defeating the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Carolina Hurricanes are matching up against their crosstown rivals, the New York Rangers, in Round 2. That means a homecoming for Tony DeAngelo, who was met with a rude welcome early in the game.
Tony DeAngelo played five seasons with the Rangers from 2016-2021. Vulgar chants rained down on him from the start, as they got especially loud when he committed a penalty in the first period that led to an early New York goal.
“I don’t give two you-know-whats about it,” said DeAngelo.
In the first period, the Rangers took full advantage of the Hurricanes being penalized. They scored two power play goals, needing only 23 seconds combined to put the puck in the back of the net.
After DeAngelo was hit with a roughing penalty, Mika Zibanejad scored nine seconds into the power play. The second goal came from Vincent Trocheck only 14 seconds into the man advantage.
It set the tone for New York, who found success in Round 1 against the Washington Capitals, going 6-for-16 on power plays. In the regular season, the Carolina Hurricanes had the best penalty kill in the NHL, but they were no match for the Rangers early in Game 1.
The penalty on Tony DeAngelo was one that Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour and his team were confused by. It was originally called a tripping penalty on Martin Necas but changed to roughing on D’Angelo after a meeting of the officials on the ice.
“I’m not even going to get into it,” DeAngelo said about the call. “It’s tough. We had five power plays too, so they can go both ways. It’s a tough job for them guys, and then they make a call. So, it is what it is.”
Those two power plays in the first period were actually the only ones the Rangers were on in the entire game. The Carolina Hurricanes had a man advantage five times but were unable to ever take advantage as they went scoreless.
That will be something to keep an eye on as the series moves along. If the Rangers can continue to find success during special teams play, which was a strength of the Hurricanes throughout the regular season, it will provide them an edge to exploit.
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