Carolina Hurricanes: Three Keys to Home Victory vs. New York Rangers

The Carolina Hurricanes host the New York Rangers tonight as they look to gain two more points in the Metropolitan Division. Here’s what the Canes need to do to make sure that happens.

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the New York Rangers tonight for the final time in the 2019-20 regular season.

The Canes desperately need a win against their Divisional opponent tonight to secure two more points in both the league standings and the Metropolitan Division standings.

The New York Rangers have been on a tear recently, winning 5 of their last 6 games. The lone loss came against the Boston Bruins this past Sunday by a score of 3-1.

In this stretch, the Rangers have down opponents such as the LA Kings, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

As of right now, the Carolina Hurricanes claim the 1st wildcard playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division with 72 points; a tie-breaker of ROW has them above the New York Islanders in this regard. Adversely, the New York Rangers are currently out of the playoff picture, and 2nd to last in the Metropolitan Division above with 66 points.

The New York Rangers have always played the Carolina Hurricanes well, and tonight’s matchup will be no different, even if noted Canes-killer Henrik Lundqvist will sit tonight in lieu of rookie phenom Igor Shesterkin. Let’s take a look at what the Carolina Hurricanes need to do to claim two points from another Metro division opponent.

1. Start On Time (Again)

The Carolina Hurricanes have seemingly bucked the trend of letting up the first goal over the course of their past few games.

The Canes have scored first in their past three games – only one of these, an OT loss to the Edmonton Oilers, has ended in a Canes loss.

The other two games have been relatively huge wins for the Canes; a 4-1 thwomping of the Nashville Predators, and a 5-2 thrashing of the New Jersey Devils.

If the Carolina Hurricanes can match the pace they’ve played with (or at least started with) the past few games, tonight’s matchup should go our way.

If not, the New York Rangers may well continue their hot streak and cause unnecessary problems for the Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff hopes in the near future.

2. Dig In Defensively

By now, it is no secret that the New York Rangers are more dangerous offensively than they have ever been.

With added free agent Artemi Panarin, the Rangers have rocketed forward in offensive production by lightyears this season.

Alongside Panarin is Mika Zibenajad, who is also an offensive powerhouse (when healthy), and should be easily spotted tonight if the Carolina Hurricanes put together another shallow defensive performance.

This past offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes were widely touted to have one of the best, if not the best bluelines in the league. That has proven to be a bit of an overestimation, and with Dougie Hamilton injured, that is certainly not the case this season.

The Carolina Hurricanes’ defense has to turn around sooner or later. I’d rather it be sooner, seeing as how we more than likely aren’t getting any help before Monday’s trade deadline.

3. Clean Entries and Exits

A big issue that I have seen this season that has been a significant factor in the Carolina Hurricanes’ rollercoaster record is shoddy zone entries and failed zone exits.

The Carolina Hurricanes are, on paper, brimming with talent. Players like Ryan Dzingel, Erik Haula, and Nino Niederreiter should be tearing it up in the neutral zone and the offensive zone, but that bite has just not been there this season.

For whatever reason, the Carolina Hurricanes are still struggling with one of the basic fundamentals of successful hockey play: offensive zone entries and defensive zone exits.

Several plays break down for the Canes here, and even more plays are turned over, and lead to odd-man rushes barreling in towards Petr Mrazek or James Reimer.

This is, aside from depth scoring, lack of defense, or iffy goaltending (not recently, though), a big problem that I am surprised hasn’t been ironed out yet.

The New York Rangers have a ton of Fast (see what I did there?), speedy players on their roster, and will make the Canes’ night hell if they struggle even a little bit on zone entries and exits tonight.