Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Victory Against the New York Rangers

Stay Out of the Box

This should be something that any coach would stress to his team, but it definitely holds true for the Carolina Hurricanes. In the three games so far this month, Carolina has taken 10 penalties. While that may not seem like to many, the fact that they gave up power play goals in all three of those games is concerning.

Currently, the Carolina Hurricanes rank 17th in the league when it comes to the penalty kill, killing off 80.7% of the penalties they face. So they’re right around the middle of the pack, but when you keep taking unnecessary penalties like the team has recently, that number is bound to go down. You can only play with fire for so long before it burns you.

The New York Rangers are currently 11th in the league when it comes to the power play, converting on 20.83% of their opportunities. While this stat may not look too scary, it would be wise to not take a power play unit lightly when it includes the Russian sniper Artemi Panarin. I haven’t even mentioned the young up-and-coming star Kaapo Kakko, who can be just as deadly.

If the Hurricanes are looking to negate some of the chances that the Rangers will get, then they are going to have to stay out of the box. Penalties will happen, but the difference maker here is negating the unnecessary penalties that have plagued the team recently. If they can manage that, then it’s a big step in the right direction and will make securing the win so much easier.