New York aims to advance to Eastern Conference Final with sweep of Carolina
Game 4 Rangers vs Hurricanes Preview
The New York Rangers can advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons when they face the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round.
The Rangers won their second straight overtime game, 3-2, on Artemi Panarin’s redirection at 1:43 of extra time in Game 3 of the best-of-7 series. Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere each scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 45 saves, helping New York claim a 3-0 edge and improve to 7-0 in the playoffs.
Andrei Svechnikov had two points, including the game-tying goal late in the third period, and Jake Guentzel scored his third goal of the series. But Carolina’s much-maligned power play went 0 for 5 again — falling to 0 for 15 in the series — and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped just 22 of 25 shots in defeat.
Still, New York needs one more win to advance to the third round. Here’s a Rangers vs Hurricanes preview for Game 4.
Hurricanes vs Rangers 
Records: New York Rangers (3-0) at Carolina Hurricanes (0-3)
Location: PNC Arena
Day/Time: Streaming: TNT, truTV, MAX
Smells like ‘94
If you look at the playoff hockey standings you’ll see the Rangers are unbeaten through seven Stanley Cup playoff games for the first time since the magical 1994 season. That year, New York swept through the rival Islanders before dominating the Capitals in five games en route to the Stanley Cup title.
As was the case in 1994, the Rangers have been carried by dominant goaltending. Despite being outshot by Carolina 129-87 in the series, New York is ahead since Shesterkin boasts a .938 save percentage and NHL-best 5.07 goals-saved above average in the second round.
Unsurprisingly, Shesterkin is the current favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy right now, and his current run could result in him winning the playoff MVP award even if the Rangers lose in the Cup Final. Five players have won the Conn Smythe without winning the Cup, and three have been goalies, most recently Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2003.
Even the mention of 1994 will spark Rangers fans into a frenzy, especially since it’s the 30th anniversary of that team. But New York last reached the Cup Final in 2014, which was only 10 years ago at this point, and is the NHL playoffs odds favorite to win both the East (+115) and Stanley Cup (+330).
But Carolina, which is now 3-1 at home in the playoffs and is 15-5 at PNC Arena over the past three postseasons, is still a slight favorite in Game 4.
Special Teams Wins (Again)
Stop me if you’ve heard this before in a Rangers vs Hurricanes Preview, but the Hurricanes’ power play is costing them in the postseason.
Carolina finally held the high-octane New York power play off the board in four attempts but failed to score with the man advantage for the third straight game. The Hurricanes PP is 3 for 11 (27.2%) in playoff wins this year but 2 for 19 (10.5%) in losses.
But aside from another 0-fer on the power play, Carolina surrendered a short-handed goal to Kreider in the second period that tied the game at 1. Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour even acknowledged the deflating feeling on the Carolina bench after Kreider scored.
The Rangers now have three short-handed goals in the playoffs and have allowed just two power-play goals against, each coming against the Capitals in the first round.
Carolina has ruled the 5-on-5 play in this series, outshooting New York 101-67 and out-scoring it 8-6 at even strength through three games. But the Rangers’ 5-0 advantage at all other strengths is the reason they’re one game from advancing to the final four.
Canes Goalies Fall Short (Again)
Shesterkin and the special teams have been the story in the series, but leaving it to that feels like letting Carolina’s goaltending off the hook.
Brind’Amour went to Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3, and he was fine, making 22 saves on 25 shots. There were no glaringly obvious bad goals allowed, but Kochetkov also finished with a .880 save percentage and made 48.8% of the saves as Shesterkin in Game 3.
Thus far, Carolina goalies have a .873 save % and minus-2.19 goals-saved above average in the series, each of which has been dwarfed by Shesterkin.
Brind’Amour said he was going away from starter Frederik Andersen so the veteran goalie could get rest in the series, but he undoubtedly was hoping Kochetkov could infuse some life into his team as well. Though he wasn’t the reason Carolina lost, Kochetkov also didn’t steal the game.
Could Carolina have used a save on Kreider’s short-handed goal? Absolutely. Could he have closed his arm and body faster on Panarin’s redirection? Yes.
Brind’Amour could decide to go back to Andersen for Game 4, but at this point, the veteran is what he is: a goalie with a career .916 regular-season save% and .915 playoff save%. He won’t lose you a series, but he also hasn’t single-handedly won a playoff series for Carolina, or Toronto and Anaheim before that.
Kochetkov is something of a wild card, with his elite puck-moving ability and career .923 save% against the Rangers in the regular season. But like the rest of the Canes, he wasn’t good enough in Game 3.
Game 4 Prediction
If you’re NHL betting and listened to Brind’Amour speak after Game 3, you’ll probably agree Carolina is giving off big dead-team-walking vibes.
After going through this Rangers vs Hurricanes preview, it seems likely the Rangers will cap the sweep with another one-goal win, maybe even in overtime.
New York 3, Carolina 2
Hurricanes vs Rangers Odds
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