The New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes meet Thursday in game 5 of the East Second Round NHL Playoffs at the PNC Arena. The New York Rangers look for a third straight win to take a 3-2 series lead. The Carolina Hurricanes need a bounce back showing to take a 3-2 series lead.
The New York Rangers are averaging 3.27 goals per game and are scoring on 26.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Chris Kreider leads New York with 6 goals, Mika Zibanejad has 9 assists, and Ryan Strome has 34 shots on goal. Defensively, the New York Rangers are allowing 3.18 goals per game and are killing 81.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Igor Shesterkin has allowed 30 goals on 399 shots faced, and Alexandar Georgiev has given up 2 goals on 31 shots.
The Carolina Hurricanes are averaging 2.73 goals per game and are scoring on 11.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Sebastian Aho leads Carolina with 4 goals, Teuvo Teravainen has 7 assists and Andrei Svechnikov has 29 shots on goal. Defensively, the Carolina Hurricanes are allowing 2.55 goals per game and are killing 80 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Antti Raanta has allowed 19 goal on 274 shots faced, and Pyotr Kochetkov has given up 6 goals on 60 shots.
The Rangers are 1-5 in their last 6 road games and 5-2 in their last 7 overall. The Hurricanes are 44-16 in their last 60 home games and 12-5 in their last 17 overall. The under is 4-0 in Rangers last 4 overall. The under is 5-0 in Hurricanes last 5 overall. The Rangers are 1-5 in the last 6 meetings in Carolina and 35-16 in the last 51 meetings.
The New York Rangers may have all the momentum right now, but all they did was take care of business in the same way the Hurricanes did in the first two games. The bottom line is the home team has been in control of all four games and has yet to blink. We probably shouldn’t expect anything different here, considering the Canes have won 24 of their last 31 home games. The Hurricanes have also won 11 straight games as a favorite. The Rangers aren’t anywhere close to the same team on the road as they are at home. Give me the Canes to get back on track and take a series lead.