The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers meet Tuesday in game 4 of the East Second Round NHL Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. The Carolina Hurricanes look for a bounce back showing to take a 3-1 series lead. The New York Rangers look for back-to-back wins to even the series at 2-2.
The Carolina Hurricanes are averaging 2.9 goals per game and are scoring on 11.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with 4 goals, Teuvo Teravainen has 7 assists and Andrei Svechnikov has 26 shots on goal. Defensively, the Carolina Hurricanes are allowing 2.4 goals per game and are killing 80.6 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Antti Raanta has allowed 15 goal on 246 shots faced, and Pyotr Kochetkov has given up 6 goals on 60 shots.
The New York Rangers are averaging 3.2 goals per game and are scoring on 26.9 percent of their power play opportunities. Chris Kreider leads New York with 6 goals, Mika Zibanejad has 9 assists, and Ryan Strome has 32 shots on goal. Defensively, the New York Rangers are allowing 3.4 goals per game and are killing 80 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Igor Shesterkin has allowed 29 goals on 368 shots faced, and Alexandar Georgiev has given up 2 goals on 31 shots.
The Hurricanes are 19-9 in their last 28 Tuesday games and 12-4 in their last 16 overall. The Rangers are 38-13 in their last 51 games as a favorite and 24-9 in their last 33 games as a home favorite. The under is 4-0 in Hurricanes last 4 overall. The over is 7-3 in Rangers last 10 overall. The Hurricanes are 7-22 in the last 29 meetings in New York and 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.
The Carolina Hurricanes and a cheap price is intriguing because I still think they’re the better team here overall. However, the New York Rangers have played their best hockey these playoffs at home which includes four straight wins, and they’re winning those games by an average of two goals. The Carolina Hurricanes have lost four straight on the road, and they’ve had issues winning in New York over the last several years. Shesterkin continues to stand tall, and the crowd at MSG can’t be overlooked. The Rangers are still a tough out, and I like them to even up this series.