Live conversation for playoff preview with Hurricanes

The New York Rangers still have the slimmest of hopes of finishing in first place this season.  Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes know that if they win tonight, they can clinch.   The Canes need a combination of two points gained or two points lost by the Rangers in order to clinch.  First place for New York is a longshot, but not out of the question.

More important, this could be a preview of the second round of the playoffs, if both Carolina and New York can get out of the first round.  It looks like Hurricanes-Rangers could become the new version of past playoff rivalries with the Islanders, Flyers, Penguins and Capitals.

On the injury front, it appears that Andrew Copp and Filip Chytil will be back from their injuries.  It looks like the Rangers are going all in for first place, risking injury before the playoffs start next week.  Is that the right call?  Who knows?

The irony is that the Capitals could very well finish ahead of the Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division so the heavily anticipated Pittsburgh-New York reunion may not happen.  Ironically, if the Rangers can finish first, they could end up playing the Penguins.  Right now, it is Boston  who will play the Met Division winner.

The season series

The Hurricanes have won two of the first three meetings between the teams and have outplayed the Rangers in all three games.   On January 21 it was Tony DeAngelo’s three points that led the Canes to a 6-3 win in Raleigh.

The Rangers’ win came on March 20 when Alexandar Georgiev stole a 2-0 win, making 44 saves.   Chris Kreider scored a second period goal and Georgiev made the lead hold up as the Blueshirts had only 18 shots on goal.

Their last meeting just two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden was the most competitive as the teams went into the third period tied 1-1.  The Canes scored just a minute into the third period and added another goal about six minutes later to make the score 3-1.  Chris Kreider scored his 50th goal to make it a contest, but an empty net goal sealed the win for Carolina.

Projected starting lineups

The final starting lineup is still up in the air and won’t be known until pregame warmups.  Kaapo Kakko skated in practice on Monday,  but it looks like he won’t be back until the Montreal game tomorrow.  Igor Shesterkin gets the start.

NEW  YORK RANGERS

20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 77 Vatrano
23 Panarin – 16 Strome – 18 Copp
13 Lafreniere– 72 Chytil – 21 Goodrow
29 Hunt – 17 Rooney – 75 Reaves

55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
12 Nemeth – 45 Schneider

31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev

CAROLINA HURRICANES

37 Andrei Svechnikov– 20 Sebastian Aho – 24 Seth Jarvis
13 Max Domi – 16  Vincent Trocheck –  86 Teuvo Teravainen
21 Nino Niederreiter – 11 Jordan Staal – 71 Jesper Fast
48 Jordan Martinook – 18 Derek Stepan – 88 Martin Necas

74 Jaccob Slavin – 77 Tony DeAngelo
76 Brady Skjei – 22 Brett Pesce
7 Brendan Smith –28 Ian Cole

90 Pyotr Kochetkov
32 Antti Raanta

The injury bug has hit the Hurricanes.  Goalie Frederik Andersen will be out for a while with an injury but is expected to be back for the playoffs.   Vincent Trocheck and Jesperi Kotkaniemi are also out short term.  Antti Raanta left Sunday’s game with leg cramps, but it supposed to be okay for the start tonight but late word is rookie Pyotr Kochetkov will be in net.  He allowed two goals in his only NHL start against the Devils.

How to watch and the live conversation

The game is set to start at 7pm and will be televised on the MSG Network.  The live stream is available on ESPN+.

Blue Line Station’s live conversation is active now and you can join you fellow Ranger fans in discussing the game, the upcoming playoffs and anything else regarding our favorite team.  Since clinching second place, the live threads have been fairly serene.  Not a lot of angst, even when they lost on Saturday.

Join in by using the comments section below!