The New York Rangers swept their season series over the Carolina Hurricanes. Does it matter?
As the New York Rangers prepare for their qualifying round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, many give the Blueshirts the edge because they swept the season series. While the Rangers won all four games, it would be inaccurate to say that they dominated the series.
The real story was dominant goaltending as the Rangers were badly outshot in three of the four games. In the first three games, the Blueshirts outscored the Hurricanes 12-7 despite being outshot 132-68. Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head to get those wins with two of the games at Madison Square Garden.
The only really “good” win was the last one on February 21 when they won 5-2 behind Igor Shesterkin in Raleigh. In that game, the Blueshirts outshot the Hurricanes 36-29 and jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back. They were led by Mika Zibanejad with a goal and two assists. Ironically, the game winning goal was scored by Brady Skjei who was traded to the Canes three days later.
Regular season vs. playoffs
So, how much does regular season dominance matter? After they returned from the lockout in 2004-05 the Rangers have played 22 playoff series, winning 10 and losing 12. We took a look at how the Rangers did against the teams they played in the regular season to see how it translated to the playoffs.
They played seven series against teams that they had a winning record over in the regular season. Their playoff record? 4-3.
They played seven series against teams they they had a losing record against in the regular season. Their playoff record? 2-5.
They played eight series against teams that they had tied in the regular season. Their playoff record? 5-3.
From these numbers it doesn’t mean much. While their record was better against teams that they beat in the regular season, it’s not by much. The one question is how much the Rangers all-time domination of the Hurricanes will affect Carolina mentally.
The Rangers have a stunning 30-6 record against the Hurricanes over the last nine seasons. Since 2006-07 they have gone 41-14-1. In fact, they last time they lost a regular season series to the Canes was in 2005-06 when they lost three of four. Psychologically, that has to mean something.
Being swept
Since the lockout, the Rangers have had one series against a team that swept them. That was in 2014-15 when they played the Tampa Bay Lightning who had won all three regular season games. We all remember that the Presidents’ Trophy winning Rangers lost to Tampa in seven games in the Conference Finals.
If playing a team that swept them in the regular season is something to avoid, this postseason they don’t want to play the Flyers (0-3), St. Louis (0-2), Vancouver (0-2) or Calgary (0-1),
Next, if you are superstitious, the Rangers sweep of the Hurricanes has some historical significance.