NEW YORK - The hockey fans at Madison Square Garden, a vocal bunch, did not have much to root for during the first two periods of Monday evening’s contest between the Carolina Hurricanes and their Atlantic-Division-leading Rangers.

New York, which trailed 2-zip at the time, had mustered 18 shots that Cam Ward, the Hurricane goalie, was asked to stop. There were another dozen or so which sailed wide, or were defended against. Then, someone from Section 426 stepped to center ice during an intermission promotion and, with $1,000 on the line, pumped up the crowd with the winning goal.

That was the one, and only, reason to cheer the most uninspired contest the Rangers have played in quite some time. The 4-0 final, produced when Carolina tacked on two goals in a span of 2:26 in the third period, not only moved the Hurricanes past New York as the Eastern Conference’s second-best team, but eclipsed their 8-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres only two days earlier.

“They were a little more intense than us,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who is still the league-leader with 14 wins. “They scored their second and third goals at a tough time, just when we needed to back into the game.”

Except that the Rangers could never solve Cam Ward, the 2006 Conn Smythe MVP, who stopped 28 shots to merit his second shutout of the season. New York was last whitewashed, 1-0, in Pittsburgh on October 23.

Lundqvist, with four shutouts in 25 games already, was victimized by his team’s inept offense [0-4 on the power play] after two unfortunate bounces in the first period had provided the visitors all the offense they needed.

Carolina opened with a 6-0 advantage in shots, and continued to force the play, before Scott Walker, from five feet out, slid his second goal of the season past Lundqvist for the eventual game-winner at 5:22. The back-breaker was Cory Stillman’s first of the game, and 14th overall, when he outmuscled New York’s defense and ping-ponged a chip shot with 15.1 seconds remaining in the period. Justin Williams, with his 300th NHL point, and ex-Ranger Matt Cullen assisted.

For more than a period, that score was credited to Cullen. But, on-ice officials deemed that he would have to settle for a two-assist game instead; still, Cullen now has 27 points in 28 games with his new team, had registered just 41 points in a full season here last season.

“I’d like to think,” coach Tom Renney lamented, “that we are a mature team. But, as great as things can be, they can get real bad in a hurry. We want to maintain some balance, and approach the game the same way. But, tonight, it just wasn’t there.”

Just milliseconds after New York was thwarted on their final power play, the puck slithered through the neutral zone, and between the legs of Jaromir Jagr, who had just broken his stick on a one-time attempt. David Tanabe, the Hurricane defenseman, who was serving two minutes for a previous infraction, stormed out of the penalty box and sealed the game with a breakaway goal, his first, at 11:30. Then, Stillman potted Justin Williams’ rebound into an empty cage to close out the scoring.

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