New York Rangers: Storylines to watch out for in Second Round series against Hurricanes
It has been a long time since the New York Rangers were here, 2017 was the last time to be precise, but tonight they get their Second Round series against the Carolina Hurricanes underway with a place in the Eastern Conference Finals the prize.
After beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games thanks to an Artemi Panarin game-winner in Overtime, the Rangers will now face a step-up in opponent in the Canes, who are built to win right now.
Make no doubt about it; the Blueshirts are massive underdogs for this series and they will need to play a lot better across seven games than they did against the Penguins if they are to reach the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2014-15.
It will be a tough ask but, as was shown throughout the First Round, count this team out at your peril.
No matter the situation, no matter the deficit, the Rangers found a way to rise from the dead and find a way to win and that character and mental fortitude will be key again if they are to at least go the distance with Carolina.
So, on that note, let’s go through some of the most intriguing storylines that will be at the heart of this series…
Can the Rangers turn the tide?
While the Blueshirts went into the First Round having beaten up on the Penguins during the regular season, the opposite will be true in this series given that the Hurricanes have had the Rangers’ number for quite a while now.
You can trace it back to the infamous Bubble experiment in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Canes beat up on the Rangers in every single sense of the word in a 3-0 sweep in the qualifying round. One huge hit from former New York defenseman Brady Skjei set the tone in that shortened series, and it’s been one-way traffic since.
The Rangers have only won once in their last seven meetings, which came in a 2-0 shutout on March 20 with Alexandar Georgiev standing on his head with a 44-save performance. The other six meetings featured some good, some ugly and more bad, including two big wins for the Canes down the stretch that ultimately decided who won the Metro.
Of course, everything goes out of the window in postseason hockey and the simple fact of the matter is that all the pressure will be on Carolina heading into this series. With early exits in each of the last two years, another one this season won’t be acceptable given the lofty expectations for this team.
As for the Rangers, they surpassed all expectations with a 100 plus point season, while anything they do now in the playoffs can be considered a bonus, so they can approach this series with a certain freedom that should only help.
These two teams have seen a lot of each other lately but, given everything they went through during the First Round, the Rangers should prove a much tougher out for the Hurricanes and this series should go the full seven given the considerable strengths on both sides.