The New York Rangers are on to round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after their huge come from behind rally against the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one. While the excitement of that overtime win in game seven was something to smile about for a couple days, it's now back to business as the road forward isn’t going to get any easier. The Rangers have taken on the Carolina Hurricanes four times this season, most of which were down the final stretch of the season. The Blueshirts were only able to come out on top in one of those meetings but as we all know, playoffs are a different animal. The Rangers “no quit” attitude is exactly what you need to go into a series like this and with the way they’ve been able to battle back all year long, you have to believe in them no matter who they’re going up against.
That attitude will be extra important going into the hostile environment that is PNC Arena, especially with the Hurricanes only making tickets available to residents of North Carolina. The energy will certainly be surging through the building but that shouldn’t be anything the Rangers aren’t used to, especially after that game seven at the Garden. One of the big storylines going into this series will be the Rangers familiarity with many of the Hurricanes players. Jesper Fast, Brady Skjei, Derek Stepan, Brendan Smith, Tony DeAngelo and Antti Raanta are all former Rangers now playing with the Hurricanes. Carolina will have the advantage of getting the inside scoop of how the Rangers play from some former teammates but by no means is this the same team Brendan Smith left from last season.
It’s no secret that the Hurricanes are among the strongest teams in the East but that shouldn’t intimidate the Rangers. As long as they play their game and keep up the resiliency they can skate with any team in the league. They will have to tighten up defensively and will likely rely on Shesterkin more than they ideally should. Nevertheless, if Artemi Panarin can build off that game winning goal, if Mika Zibanejad can stay hot and the team can continue to get contributions from their top guys, they’ll be in a good place. The Rangers can’t rely too heavily on their power play as Carolina is extremely aggressive on the penalty kill. So much of the Rangers power play relies on controlling the puck at the points and that is just not going to fly against this Hurricanes team. Look for the kid line to keep it going and definitely keep an eye on Alexis Lafreniere who is one of the Rangers better contributors at 5v5.
On Carolina’s side, we can likely expect to go up against the same lineup they finished round one with. The only major injury they’re dealing with aside from Jake Gardiner who has missed the whole season with hip surgery, is their star goaltender, Freddie Anderson. Anderson has yet to play in these playoffs and doesn’t seem to be close to a return just yet. Antti Raanta, former backup to Henrik Lundqvist, is now handling the starting goaltender responsibilities in Carolina but has already missed a couple games in round one. Injuries are unfortunately a recurring theme for Raanta but the hope will definitely be that he holds his own through the series and be the backbone for this Carolina team.
On the Rangers end, you can likely expect the same lineup we saw in game seven but some big, somewhat unexpected news came from today’s morning skate. Sammy Blais, who has missed the majority of the season with an ACL tear has rejoined the team on the ice, skating for the first time since November. While he obviously won’t be an option for tonight, Gerard Gallant did mention post practice that Blais wasn’t ruled out for the rest of playoffs. Without a doubt great news for Blais as well as this Rangers team. I feel like a lot of fans don’t give Sammy Blais enough credit, especially since Pavel Buchnevich was sent the other way in that trade. Blais is a great player and depending how recovery goes, can be a huge addition to the Rangers fourth line and could be a middle six guy down the road.
With no other major changes in my, we can expect the following familiar lines when the line combinations pop up on the top of our TV’s following tonight’s puck drop:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Copp
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Rooney - Motte - Reaves
Miller - Trouba
Lindgren - Fox
Braun - Schneider
Igor Shesterkin will lead the Blueshirts onto that Carolina ice tonight as he will look to carry the momentum of his stellar game seven performance into this series. The only time the Rangers beat the Hurricanes this season was with Alexandar Georgiev but there’s not a doubt that they will trust in their guy to get the job done and hold down the fort against this offensive power house. Igor and the Rangers will absolutely have to shut down that top line for the Hurricanes but keeping an eye on Teuvo Teravainen on that second line will be equally as important as he currently leads the team in assists and +/- during this postseason.
Jaccob Slavin, who was just announced as a candidate for the Lady Byng Trophy will be another guy to keep an eye on as he has two goals and three assists in his last five games as not only the Hurricanes best defenders, but one of the best in the league. Rangers fans shouldn’t have to worry too much there as Adam Fox (former asset of the Hurricanes, people forget) is leading the way with six assists through the last five games as Mika Zibanejad has NINE points in the same stretch. If the Rangers top guys keep it up and Igor plays the way we know he can, we should be in for a hell of a series. You have to hope the Rangers can snag at least one win on the road to feel pretty good about their chances when they get back to the Garden this weekend.
Buckle up Rangers fans, there’s no quit in New York and as always, LETS GO RANGERS. Round two, let’s get after it. Puck drops at 7:00pm EST.
Chris Feldman
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