NEW YORK - While the Rangers have been the darlings of the NHL, racking up wins at a higher rate than any team in the league, the Hurricanes have lurked beneath the fray.

Tuesday served as a reminder that, despite a sluggish start to the season and shaky goaltending, Carolina remains a credible threat to New York’s Stanley Cup pursuit.

The Canes handed the Blueshirts a lopsided 6-1 defeat in a Metro Division showdown at Madison Square Garden, with their fourth consecutive win moving them to within five points of first place.

With that came a dose of humility for the Rangers (25-10-1) to start the new year.

"Those games are extremely important, no matter what time of season," center Vincent Trocheck said. "Those are tough ones to swallow."

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Rare off night on special teams

It wasn't a prototypical Carolina victory.

The Rod Brind'Amour-coached squad, which has won three consecutive division titles and reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season, has built its success on being a dominant five-on-five team. The formula is predicated on shot volume, high possession rates and a forecheck that comes at you in waves.

That wasn't the case Tuesday − at least not for the first two periods.

"From a five-on-five standpoint, they didn't really generate anything," New York head coach Peter Laviolette said. "I wish we generated a little bit more. I think the chances were fairly low."

The Rangers (25-10-1) limited the Hurricanes to 14 shots on goal in the opening 40 minutes, including just eight at 5v5, but got uncharacteristically burned on special teams.

"You're not going to win many games if you lose the special teams' game that bad," captain Jacob Trouba said. "It's been pretty good all year. I think giving up two in the first (period) on the (penalty kill) isn’t something we're used to. It's tough to overcome."

It started with an early interference call on Alexis Lafrenière, with Jack Drury cashing in on the ensuing power play to give Carolina a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

The Canes earned a second PP later in the period, with Andrei Svechnikov netting a one-timer to push their lead to 2-0.

In between the two Rangers' penalties was a missed call on Carolina forward Stefan Noesen, who clearly held Mika Zibanejad and got away with it. The MSG crowd let their understandable displeasure be known, but one extra power play wouldn't have changed the outcome in this one.

The Blueshirts, who entered Tuesday with the NHL's most efficient power play, didn't help themselves by going 0-for-3 in those situations. They had trouble getting set up and never looked like much of a threat, managing only two shots on goal in six PP minutes while being credited with just one high-danger scoring chance, according to Natural Stat Trick.

It marked the ninth time in 36 games that the power play failed to score and second time in their last 11.

"I feel like our zone entries weren’t very good tonight," Trocheck said. "They did a good job stacking the line and keeping us (out). Even possession. We didn't have a whole lot of possession on the power play, so tip your hat to their PK. But at the same time, we’ve got to be sharper."

'We just let out foot off the gas'

Chris Kreider tipped in a long shot from Trouba for his 19th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the second period, but that would be the extent of the Rangers' offense on a night when they managed only six HDCF.

"We’re capable of more, but they’re a team that plays big and strong and physical," Laviolette said. "They don’t make a lot of mistakes, and they didn’t, so we had to take what they gave us."

It was all Hurricanes from there.

Soon after Kreider's goal, Jordan Martinook capitalized on a New York giveaway − a pass to no one from defenseman Erik Gustafsson − to make it 3-1 and suck the air out of the building.

"There's a poor exchange trying to break the puck out, and it's in the back of the net," Laviolette said. "That flattened us a little bit."

The mishap dashed the Blueshirts' chances for a comeback and led to an ugly third period that Trouba said lacked "enough grind or real compete."

It began with two Carolina goals in a span of 1:23.

The first came on a long slap shot from Jalen Chatfield, who benefitted from Martinook screening goalie Igor Shesterkin, and the second was the result of the Rangers pushing for offense and allowing Svechnikov to get behind them for a breakaway.

"We just let off the gas and for some reason didn't play our game," Trocheck said. "They took it to us. You can't do that against good teams. It's frustrating. I think we were in the game the whole game, first and second period. Put one or two of those power plays in the net, and it's a different ballgame. But you’ve got to stick with it for a full 60 (minutes)."

Laviolette could live with his team's effort in the first 40 minutes but vocalized his disappointment with what happened in the final 20.

"If I'm going to go after a period, it's the third period," he said. "I hate it. They played a simple game. They flipped it out, they put it behind us, and we got caught turning pucks over and chasing down things trying to chase a game. The third period was not who we are or who we want to be."

Michael Bunting added one more goal with 4:12 to play for good measure, putting the finishing touch on a reverberating win for the Canes.

It also capped a tough night for Shesterkin, who allowed six goals on 26 shots faced to snap his five-game winning streak. As we approach the halfway point of the season, his save percentage sits in the middle of the pack at .906.

The two teams won't meet again until March 12 in Carolina, but the stage has been set for what should be consequential games to come.

"There's no reason for us to show up and play that game," Trouba said. "We know how they play. They're very opportunistic. They play a fast game and we just weren't up to up to the same speed as they were."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: Hurricanes remind Rangers they're still a threat