The New York Rangers have known for a while they won't make the playoffs. They made it official that the Carolina Hurricanes won't  Russell Okung Jersey , either.

Ryan Sproul scored and Kevin Hayes added a short-handed goal, and the Rangers beat the Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night to eliminate them from the playoff race.

Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves for New York, which entered having lost three straight and six of seven – going 1-4-2 in that stretch – and was formally knocked out of the postseason chase earlier in the week.

"Especially when you're officially eliminated, you want to end on a good note," alternate captain Mika Zibanejad said. "You want to be able to get something out of it, and it's just easy to lay down and just not care, but that's not how we are as individuals in here."

Jeff Skinner scored and Cam Ward made 18 saves for the Hurricanes, who will miss the playoffs for the ninth straight year – the longest active postseason drought in the NHL. For the third consecutive season, their official elimination came in their 79th game.

"I think we've known for a while, obviously, so officially, unofficially  Kenny Stabler Jersey , we've still got to be ready to work and be a pro and show up and win games and play well for our fans," co-captain Jordan Staal said.

Lundqvist's third victory against Carolina this season helped the Rangers finish off a sweep in the series. New York won the first three games by a combined 17-5, but this was Ward's first start of the season against them. Carolina's previous three losses came with Scott Darling in net.

Skinner's goal with 11:53 remaining made it a one-goal game, but the Rangers locked down after that, ending the game by killing a slashing penalty to Hayes over the final 74 seconds.

"You've just got to stick to your system," defenseman Brady Skjei said. "We felt confident that we could kill it off, and when it comes down to 6-on-4, you've got to keep it compact and just try to keep pucks to the outside. That was kind of our mindset, and a few good sticks by our guys and that clear at the end by (Mats Zuccarello) was huge."

Sproul scored first with 16:59 left in the second period. After Paul Carey dug the puck out of the corner, he found Sproul skating unimpeded between the circles and he ripped it past Ward for his first goal.

Then, with Zibanejad in the penalty box for tripping, Jesper Fast led a rush and threaded a pass to Hayes for a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the second. That put the Rangers – who entered 21-0-1 when leading after two periods – up 2-0 after 40 minutes.

"The shorty's the game-winner  Ryan Schraeder Jersey , right?" Carolina coach Bill Peters asked rhetorically. "That's the difference in the hockey game."

NOTES: Sproul's goal left D Rob O'Gara as the only Rangers skater in the lineup without at least one goal on the season. … Carolina C Derek Ryan, who assisted on Skinner's goal, has points in four straight games.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Continue their season-ending four-game road trip at New Jersey on Tuesday night.

Hurricanes: Will try to play spoiler at Florida on Tuesday night.

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More NHL hockey:

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics will encounter one of their all-time nemeses Thursday afternoon when they face Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander in the finale of a three-game series.

The Astros have dominated the first two games of the series between American League West rivals, riding a total of 10 RBIs from Evan Gattis to 6-3 and 13-5 victories.

Houston has won seven of eight from Oakland this season.

The Astros have done it without any help from Verlander (8-2, 1.45 ERA), who has yet to face the A's this season.

They have seen plenty of each other in the veteran's 14-year career, including five times in the postseason, when Verlander has gone 4-0 against Oakland.

Included in the four wins were Game 5 clinchers for Detroit in 2012, when Verlander pitched a 6-0 shutout, and 2013, when he threw eight innings of shutout ball in a 3-0 win.

A's general manager Billy Beane got so fed up losing to Verlander  Trey Hendrickson Jersey , he attempted to stack the Oakland pitching staff in anticipation of a rematch in 2014, acquiring Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel at midseason at the costly expense of Addison Russell and Yoenis Cespedes.

The A's, who already had Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir anchoring their staff, never got a shot at Verlander in the playoffs that year, losing 9-8 to Kansas City in the American League wild-card game, which Lester started and Hammel finished.

With Lester, Samardzija and Hammel all leaving the team the following season either via trade or free agency, the A's haven't been back in the postseason since. In fact, they've never finished higher than fourth place the last three seasons.

Verlander has a 10-6 record and 2.61 ERA in 17 starts against the A's in his career during the regular season. He's 5-4 with a 2.38 ERA in 10 starts in Oakland.

The A's will counter with their modern-day version of Verlander, rookie right-hander Frankie Montas (3-0, 1.25)  Arik Armstead Jersey , who has been brilliant in three starts this season.

Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in one of Oakland's many veteran sell-offs since becoming a non-contender in 2015, Montas has allowed a total of three runs in 21 2/3 innings in wins over Arizona and Kansas City (twice).

Montas pitched twice in relief against Houston in 2017, getting shelled in one inning in each appearance.

He gave up three hits and two runs in the ninth inning of a 10-6 loss to the Astros in his 11th career appearance early in the 2017 season, then served up a three-run home run to Marwin Gonzalez in the ninth inning of a 7-2 loss two weeks later.

Gonzalez had one of Houston's four home runs in Wednesday's shellacking, but the story of the game for the second consecutive night was Gattis.

The designated hitter, who had recorded four RBIs nine separate times in his career before this series began, enjoyed his second consecutive five-RBI performance in Wednesday's win, belting two home runs along the way.

Gattis had been just 3-for-12 with no homers and no RBIs in six games against the A's this season before exploding for four hits, including three homers, in seven at-bats the last two nights.

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