The Rangers open the second round of the playoffs in Carolina tonight at 7 PM on ESPN.
The Hurricanes won three of the four meetings with the Rangers this season.
Carolina outscored the Rangers 14-10 and outshot the Rangers 140 to105.
The Rangers only win against Carolina came with Alex Georgiev stopped all 44 shots in a 2-0 win.
Carolina includes former Rangers Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, Tony DeAngelo, Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith and Antti Raanta.
19 of 27 people at ESPN have the Hurricanes beat the Rangers.
Former Rangers Ray Ferraro has Carolina winning in six, Ryan Callahan has Carolina in six, Mark Messier has the Rangers in six, Kevin Weekes has the Rangers in seven and John Tortorella has Carolina in six.
Adam Rotter: This is going to be a much different test than the Penguins were in Round 1. Carolina is a team that plays in waves and they are relentless. The Rangers struggled for long stretches against the Penguins and played too much in their defensive zone and if Carolina is dictating the play then that is unlikely to change.
Does that mean that the Rangers will get swept? No, but the Rangers are going to need to reach another level or two with their consistency, defensive game and, most importantly, guys like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider not waiting until the last moments to make an impact on the scoresheet. The Rangers, and this really goes without saying, need Igor Shesterkin at his Game 1, Game 2 and Game 7 best in this series. Antti Raanta has been pretty good for Carolina and he gets helped a lot by the Hurricanes defensive structure and the fact that they usually have the puck. The Rangers will need to play a simple, smart game with the puck because turnovers against a team with Carolina’s speed could be a mess.
Then there are the former Rangers. Raanta is obviously starting for Carolina and each of their defense pairs has a former Ranger with DeAngelo playing on the top pair with Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei on the second pair with Brett Pesce and Brendan Smith on the third pair with Ian Cole. Jesper Fast is a key member on their checking line with Jordan Staal and Derek Stepan is a depth forward. DeAngelo will have a major impact in this series as both an offensive player and potential instigator. Brad Marchand got under his skin during the Boston series and it will be interesting to see if anyone on the Rangers will try and get to him. Barclay Goodrow could have played their role, but he’s out to start. Maybe Tyler Motte or Ryan Reaves can do it or maybe someone like Andrew Copp will try and get in his face. Jesper Fast will have a big role and be tasked with shutting down either the Zibanejad or Panarin line.
I think that the Rangers can win this series, but I think it will be a long and tough series if they do. The Rangers can’t have more games where their best forward line is Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. Zibanejad’s line, Panarin’s line and the PP, against Carolina’s top ranked PK, will need to lead the Rangers and they will have to be disciplined and structured to withstand the Carolina attack. They can do it, they certainly showed in the first round that they can’t be counted out as long as a game is close, but it’s going to be tough.