Three Keys to the New York Rangers Defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Round Two
It's finally official. The New York Rangers will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round. For my money, these are the two best teams in the NHL. The winner will likely be the cup favorite, with Carolina already being the betting favorite. That team knows it is probably in the final year of its Stanley Cup window and needs to pull out all the stops to get the elusive banner they have been chasing down south.
For the Rangers, they are coming in as the Presidents Trophy winners. They had the best regular season of any team in the league. Madison Square Garden will potentially see four games in this series, and it will be one heck of a back-and-forth. These two organizations have played twice in the postseason. Carolina swept the Rangers in the bubble in 2020, but the Rangers got their revenge in 2022 when they beat the Hurricanes in game seven. With hostilities renewed this year, we will see two of the best teams in the league battling it out.
New York played four incredibly disorganized games against the Washington Capitals but survived on the back of their star goaltender, dominant special teams play, and otherworldly second line. That was good enough against a team that fought into the final days to make the playoffs and had the worst goal differential of any playoff team in the last 30 years, but this Hurricanes roster is a different beast.
Carolina seemed to struggle to overcome the New York Islanders, but the Islanders came into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Dispatching them in five games was not a small achievement by the Hurricanes, and it set up a clash of the titans between the number one seed this postseason and the number three seed. These were two of the best clubs in the regular season, so what will stop the Rangers from winning this series?
Even-Strength Play
During the series against the Washington Capitals, the New York Rangers had issues during even-strength play. After game one, the Rangers were outscored at even strength and rode their special teams to a series win. While that will work against a team that just squeaked into the playoffs, like the Washington Capitals, there is a lot more rigidity to the Carolina Hurricanes and their man-on-man system that is so effective.
New York must find a way to improve when penalty boxes are empty. It won't be easy, and there is a reason that this opposition is where it is. Rod Brind'amour's system suffocates time and space and forces players to make decisions quickly. It's effective at cutting off the time and space of star players, which is concerning for a team led by Artemi Panarin through the highs and lows of the season.
Knowing this is coming, Peter Laviolette has had his men run through walls to anticipate what is coming with this aggressive Carolina system. It's different from anything else in the NHL and will present unique challenges that New York won't face, even if they progress to the Stanley Cup Finals. No one else deploys this aggressive man-on-man system, but its track record in the playoffs is poor because of how perfect the players must be.
New York must keep this aggressive system manageable. If Carolina can dominate the even-strength play, this series will be an uphill struggle for the Rangers. Knowing that the Blueshirts already have an issue with playing at 5-on-5, it's a highly concerning combination. In 2022, the Rangers rode Shesterkin to a series victory in 7 games, but the Hurricanes are much more dangerous now than they were two years ago.
Deadline Acquisitions
The traditionally conservative Carolina Hurricanes and typically aggressive New York Rangers seemed to swap roles at this deadline. Carolina went out to get the big fish in Jake Guentzel, adding Evgeny Kuznetsov as a depth piece. While his totals haven't rebounded back to where he would like them, he is still a dangerous player the Rangers will have to try to contain.
On the flipside, New York added Jack Roslovic and Alex Wennberg. Both have added another dimension to the roster while filling holes, but they are not cut from the same cloth as Jake Guentzel. They will need to take a big step forward to help the Rangers overcome the Hurricanes in front of them. This burden will fall more on Roslovic, and that top line than Wennberg, but Wennberg will have his task.
Roslovic, Kreider, and Zibanejad must wake up and attack the Hurricanes to force them into their zone. If Carolina is prevented from getting on the forecheck, you can take the sting out of their system. The cracks appear when teams can build a strong cycle game and open holes in the roster. If the Rangers top line can do this, they'll get a chance to end this series quickly.
Wennberg's line must shut the Canes down in the offensive zone. When the Canes get into their flow, they hit teams in waves. It makes them a powerful second-period club with the long change, and they can change on the fly to stay fresh while pinning a team on its end. If New York can find a way to break the Canes' sustained pressure, they'll find a way to be okay, but it's always easier said than done.
Battle of Special Teams
New York had an excellent season on special teams. With both the powerplay and penalty kill being top five in the regular season, there's been a lot made of how it drives them to success despite their five-on-five shortcomings. The Rangers have won multiple games this season because of their power play, but that is good. The man advantage should support the even-strength play, and that was the case.
This becomes a problem against Carolina. New York had the number three powerplay and the number three penalty kill, while Carolina had the number two powerplay and the number one penalty kill. They are the only team in the NHL to be above the Rangers in both categories, and that is a scary situation. One of the significant crutches of this Rangers team could be taken away by Carolina.
However, this is the playoffs. Regular season stats do not mean anything at this time of year. This will be a challenging series for both teams, and the winner will probably go on to win the Stanley Cup. I do not believe a stronger team exists than the one of these two that survives this series. They will have a chance if the Rangers can get their powerplay clicking and keep the Carolina man advantage quiet.
How do you think this series will go? In my mind, we will see this series reach game seven. We will see two of the best teams in the NHL go back and forth—Carolina's solid defensive play against the Ranger's free-flowing offensive style. We were robbed of Frederik Andersen against Igor Shesterkin two years ago, but we will see it now. Two of the best teams in every department go to battle. Let's see how it ends.