A critical Thanksgiving Eve showdown in Raleigh.
The Carolina Hurricanes host New York in a critical Metropolitan Division matchup tonight. The second game in a three-game homestand, the Canes are looking for their ninth-straight win on home ice.
The Rangers have cooled off since their hot start.
In October, New York earned points in seven of nine games, going 6-2-1 to start the season. The Blueshirts are just one game over .500 in November and are on a three-game losing streak.
Goaltenders Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick have combined for the second-best save percentage in the NHL. The penalty kill is also second in the league. Overall, the Rangers rank tenth in goals allowed per game.
Offensively, New York ranks 11th in the NHL with 3.35 goals per game. The powerplay is 12th with a 21.2 percent conversion rate.
Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers with 12 goals and 14 assists. The Breadman started the season on an eight-game points streak and has tallied at least one point in 17 of 20 games.
Panarin is the only New York player with double-digit scoring in goals and assists. Mika Zibanejad has 11 assists, and Chris Kreider and Will Cuylle each have nine goals.
The line of Cuylle, Filip Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko was the most effective for the Rangers five-one-five this season, tallying 11 goals and allowing none. However, Chytil suffered an upper-body injury on November 14 against San Jose and has not appeared in the last five games.
Chytil and Kreider are both listed as day-to-day with upper body injuries, but they joined the team on the trip to Raleigh.
New York’s play this season is a testament to the Metropolitan Division’s competitiveness. Despite being solid in each phase of the game, New York is currently in the top wild-card spot but is two games behind Washington in the division standings.
Interestingly enough, the Rangers have played just three divisional games this season, going 2-1-0 against Metropolitan opponents. In comparison, the Hurricanes are 6-1-1 versus divisional rivals.
Divisional games are always important, but even more so for the Rangers as they seek to gain ground in the standings. New York plays divisional opponents in four of the next five games.
For most of November, head coach Peter Laviolette has gone with a 2-1 schedule for the goaltenders. Shesterkin played in New York’s last game, and with Philadelphia next up for New York on Friday, expect the Russian between the pipes tonight.
For the Hurricanes, Monday night’s wild finish once again showed this team can win in many different scenarios.
As head coach Rod Brind’Amour said, it was a less-than-ideal start. There were uncharacteristic defensive lapses for this team. With the team’s goalie situation, solid defense is more important now than ever.
Seth Jarvis’s return to the lineup was undoubtedly a boost. The multi-point performances from him, Sebastian Aho, and Martin Necas are exactly what this team needs when faced with a third-period deficit against a great hockey team.
The stars shined against the Stars. Can that effort carry over against a team in which the Canes have fallen behind in the past couple of seasons?
New York has won five of the last seven regular-season games against Carolina, including four straight in Raleigh. Not to mention that Shesterkin has a 2.41 goals against average and .925 save percentage in his career against the Hurricanes.
The magic number tonight is three. So far this season, the Rangers have won 11 of 12 games by allowing two goals or less. Let’s see if one of the league’s top-scoring teams can do enough on both ends of the ice to have a great sendoff into Thanksgiving.
Here’s how to check out the action:
- Time: 7:00 PM ET
- Location: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
- TV: FanDuel Sports Network South with Mike Maniscalco, play-by-play; Tripp Tracy, color analyst; Hanna Yates, in-game reporter; Shane Willis, analyst.
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Line: ML: CAR -175; PL: CAR -1.5 +145