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The Carolina Hurricanes go for a four-game season sweep of the Rangers when they host New York tomorrow at 3 PM ET on ABC. The Hurricanes have clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, tied for the longest stretch in franchise history with 1986-1992, when the club was the Hartford Whalers. Carolina is 46-27-5 and second in the Metropolitan Division.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are on the verge of missing the playoffs one season after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. They are 37-35-7 and sit six points behind the second Wild Card spot.
Carolina has outscored the Rangers 11-4 in three wins this season. The Rangers only have one goal in the last two matchups, including a 4-0 shutout in the teams’ previous meeting in January. Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov each scored two goals for the Hurricanes against New York this season. Igor Shesterkin is doing his best to keep the Rangers in these games, averaging nearly 30 saves in the three games against Carolina.
However, those games are behind us, so let’s break down each team’s recent play while previewing this matchup and our Rangers @ Hurricanes NHL pick.
The Rangers are one of the most disappointing clubs in the NHL this season. New York has reached the Eastern Conference finals twice in the past three campaigns but will most likely miss the playoffs for the first time in four years.
New York emphatically ended a three-game losing streak Thursday night with a 9-2 triumph over the New York Islanders. Artemi Panarin had 2 goals and an assist, Brett Berard scored twice, and Adam Fox had 3 assists while Shesterkin made 46 saves. Will Cuylle, Alexis Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, and Mika Zibanejad had 1 goal and an assist apiece.
Panarin leads the Rangers and is tied for 11th in the league with 87 points. His 37 goals lead the team, while Fox has a club-high 51 assists. Shesterkin has done his best to keep opposing offenses off the scoreboard. He is 26-28-5 this season with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
For the first time this season, Carolina has dropped four straight, as the team has gone 0-3-1. That includes a 5-4 shootout loss at the Washington Capitals last night. Jarvis, Jackson Blake, Jordan Martinook, and Logan Stankoven scored for the Hurricanes in defeat. Including the shootout loss, Carolina was outscored 18-8 in those four losses.
Aho leads the team with 43 assists and 71 points, while Jarvis paces the club with 31 goals. Frederik Andersen missed two months following knee surgery, but he has recovered to post a 13-6-1 record with a 2.20 GAA and .911 save percentage. That includes 22 saves in the 4-0 shutout of the Rangers in January.
If Andersen isn’t in the net, look for Pyotr Kochetkov, who is 26-15-3 with a 2.58 GAA.
Although Carolina has dropped its last four contests, all four games were on the road. The Hurricanes are an Eastern Conference-best 30-8-1 at home, including 7-1-1 in its previous nine games at the Lenovo Center. They have had little difficulty with the Rangers this season, and a season sweep is very much in play.
Even though he has gone without a goal in his last five games, Aho has scored in each of his previous two games against the Rangers and has a good chance of doing so again tomorrow.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.