The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers meet Tuesday in Game 5 Eastern Conference NHL Playoffs Second Round action at Madison Square Garden. Here’s a NY Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes Prediction.
Game Four Recap: Carolina Stays Alive
The Carolina Hurricanes managed to keep their season alive after picking up a 4-3 win over the Rangers in game four. Evgeni Kuznetsov opened the scoring just 1:51 into the game before Stefan Noesen made it 2-0 just 4:38 later. Will Cuylle got the Rangers on the board just 1:33 after that to make it a 2-1 game, but Sebastian Aho would restore Carolina’s two-goal lead with 4:31 to go in the opening frame. Barclay Goodrow would cut the deficit to 3-2 with the Rangers’ lone goal of the second frame and Alexis Lafreniere would tie the game at three for New York just 2:04 into the 3rd. But Brady Skjei would ensure another collapse wouldn’t happen to Carolina with a power play goal with 3:11 to go in the final frame that ended up being the game winner for Carolina. Frederik Andersen got the win after stopping 22 of 25 shots faced for Carolina while Igor Shesterkin ended up with the loss for the Rangers after allowing 4 goals on 31 shots faced in the defeat.
Carolina Hurricanes Team Preview
Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 89 points including 36 goals and 53 assists while Seth Jarvis has 67 points split between 33 goals and 34 assists. Martin Necas has 53 points and Teuvo Teravainen has 53 points, with Necas logging 24 goals while Teravainen has 25 goals. In goal, Frederik Andersen has gone 13-2 with a 1.84 GAA and a .932 save percentage while Antti Raanta is 12-7-2 with a 2.99 GAA and an .872 save percentage and Pyotr Kochetkov is 23-13-4 with a 2.33 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
Why the Carolina Hurricanes will win
- The Hurricanes have won each of their last five night games following a home win.
- The Rangers have lost four of their last five Game 5s of a playoff series.
- The Rangers have failed to cover the puck line in five of their last six games at Madison Square Garden following a road loss.
- The Hurricanes have covered the puck line in four of their last five night games following a home win.
- The Hurricanes have won the first period in each of their last five night games.
New York Rangers Team Preview
Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in scoring with 120 points including team-highs of 49 goals and 71 assists while Chris Kreider has 75 points with 39 goals of his own. Vincent Trocheck has 77 points as well with 52 assists while Mika Zibanejad has 72 points with 46 assists this season. Igor Shesterkin has gone 36-17-2 with a 2.58 GAA and a .913 save percentage while Jonathan Quick is 18-6-2 with a 2.62 GAA and a .911 save percentage between the pipes for the Rangers this season.
Why the New York Rangers will win
- The underdogs have won each of the Hurricanes’ last six games at Madison Square Garden.
- The Hurricanes have lost six of their last seven games as road favorites against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- The underdogs have covered the puck line in each of the last 12 games between the Hurricanes and Rangers.
- The Hurricanes have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last seven road games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
- The underdogs have won the third period in five of the Hurricanes’ last six games at Madison Square Garden.
NY Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes Prediction
I’m on the Rangers here to close out the series. Good on Carolina for getting on the board, but I see a gentleman’s sweep incoming. I’ve said it all series long, the Rangers are just a better version of the Hurricanes and the Rangers have played their best hockey at home all season long. The prices still hanging around a coin flip I would argue is borderline disrespectful for New York, but I’ll gladly take it. Give me New York here.