Game Preview: Hurricanes vs. Rangers

Carolina closes out their homestand against New York.

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What is the story about?

After a head-scratching three-game stretch, the Carolina Hurricanes got back to their game against Detroit Saturday night.

Tonight, the Canes seek to keep it going versus the New York Rangers.

The Rangers are in the midst of a six-game road trip that concludes with the Winter Classic. With four road games against divisional opponents and an outdoor spectacle in South Florida on Friday, how much does that factor into the team’s mindset?

New York is just barely above .500 this month and has not gained

any ground on Metropolitan opponents, sitting in the seventh spot in the division since December 4.

Despite the struggle in breaking through in the standings, New York is in a tough battle for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers need a bounce-back victory after a shutout loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday and a trip to Washington on New Years’ Eve.

Even though this six-game road trip is grueling, New York has played well on the road this season. And they needed to be road warriors based on their abysmal play at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers did not earn a home victory until November 10.

New York is 14-7-1 on the road with a 68-50 goal differential. To put that goal margin in perspective, the Rangers have an overall -3 goal differential this season and rank second-to-last in goal scored per game this season.

And one of those road victories is against the Hurricanes. On the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, the usual suspects shone for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin scored the go-ahead goal, and Igor Shesterkin turned away 36 of 38 shots enroute to a 4-2 win.

An obvious focus tonight is the Breadman. Panarin leads the Rangers in goals (14), assists (24), points (38), and shots (121), and has 30 points in 33 career regular season games against Carolina.

Another player to always watch is Mika Zibanejad. He leads the Rangers in power play goals (7), ranks second in goals (12) and points (29), and has 17 points in his last 17 games.

Zibanejad has earned his keep on the power play this season, ranking 10th in the NHL in power play goals. However, the Rangers have just one road power play goal in December, and have scored just eight away from New York City.

Based on the latest reports, Adam Fox and Sam Carrick are game-time decisions. Carrick will likely draw back due to his full participation in the morning skate, and Fox has not been fully ruled by head coach Mike Sullivan.

J.T. Miller remains on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, and Adam Edstrom is on Long-Term Injured Reserve with a lower-body injury.

Shesterkin is between the pipes for New York and is making his 11th start of the month. Shesterkin has played 31 games this season, and is 16-12-3 with a 2.51 goal against average and .910 save percentage.

Rangers projected lineup

Artemi Panarin — Mika Zibanejad — Alexis Lafreniere

Will Cuylle — Vincent Trocheck — Gabe Perreault

Conor Sheary — Noah Laba — Taylor Raddysh

Brennan Othmann — Jonny Brodzinski — Matt Rempe

Vladislav Gavrikov — Braden Schneider

Carson Soucy — Will Borgen

Matthew Robertson — Scott Morrow

Igor Shesterkin

Jonathan Quick

Scratched: Urho Vaakanainen, Conor Sheary

Injured: Adam Fox (upper body), Adam Edstrom (lower body), J.T. Miller (upper body), Sam Carrick (illness)

The Hurricanes got a lead and kept it Saturday night, a welcome departure from their previous three games. Even better, Carolina did it against the team tied with them for the lead in the Eastern Conference.

The task for the Canes is to build off that performance and finish the three-game homestand strong.

There was no morning skate for Carolina, but the practice on Sunday provided a couple of updates for this game.

Expect Pyotr Kochetkov to be in the net tonight. He had the starter’s role in practice, and he always plays well when another Russian is in the opposing crease. Kochetkov’s first game of the season was a shutout victory over the Rangers.

K’Andre Miller was injured on December 23 and did not play against the Red Wings. He was a full participant in practice and may draw back into the lineup tonight.

The Canes remain without Jaccob Slavin and Seth Jarvis. Jarvis scored a goal in each of the previous matchups this season against New York.

Eric Robinson and Andrei Svechnikov are both on three-game goal streaks. For Robinson, he is on pace for another career year. For Svechnikov, he is on a five-game points streak and is playing particularly well, which is especially important in Jarvis’s absence.

Shayne Gostisbehere’s three-point night against Detroit vaulted him back into the top 10 of points scored by a defenseman. His 25 assists are seventh-best among all defensemen.

Besides Miller, no other lineup changes are expected.

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Logan Stankoven

Nikolaj Ehlers — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Jackson Blake

William Carrier — Jordan Staal — Jordan Martinook

Taylor Hall — Mark Jankowski — Eric Robinson

Alexander Nikishin — Sean Walker

Shayne Gostisbehere — Jalen Chatfield

Mike Reilly — Joel Nystrom

Pyotr Kochetkov

Brandon Bussi

Scratched: Bradly Nadeau, Frederik Andersen