NHL Game 4: Hurricanes vs Rangers Game Preview

Home-ice advantage has been the theme behind the Carolina Hurricanes’ and New York Rangers’ games. The Hurricanes are unbeaten at home (6-0) but winless on the road (0-4) while the Rangers’ only home loss came in triple overtime. If this trend continues, we can expect this Hurricanes vs Rangers game preview to favor the home team as the NHL odds currently have it. But is it this straightforward?

Hurricanes vs Rangers Game 4 Info

• Game: Carolina Hurricanes (54-20-8) vs New York Rangers (52-24-6)
• Location: Madison Square Garden
• Day/Time: Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. ET
• Television: ESPN

Hurricanes Still Seeking First Road Win

With a 65.9 point percentage, the Carolina Hurricanes finished the regular season with the fourth-best road record. This was even better than Colorado and Tampa Bay, who are both one win away from advancing to the Conference Finals. But playing on the road in Boston and now New York, seems to have slowed down these unstoppable Hurricanes.

The most significant disparity in the Hurricanes’ home and road performances is their defense, particularly on special teams. The Hurricanes allow 31 shots at home with a 94.1 percent penalty kill (PK) for a total of just 1.2 goals allowed. On the road? Carolina is giving up the same amount of shots but has a 68.4 percent PK for a whopping 4.3 goals allowed on average.

Carolina had the fourth-best PK on the road in the regular season but it’s the third-worst during the playoffs. Part of this has to do with New York’s lethal power-play at home, which is at 35.7 percent and the best among the remaining teams. But for the Carolina Hurricanes betting sake, they need to find a way to get it going if they want to avoid another seven-game series.

How far Can Igor Shesterkin Carry the Rangers?

A pair of miserable games in Pittsburgh aside, Igor Shesterkin has been unbeatable in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The New York Rangers standings is mostly due to the likely Vezina Trophy winner as he is emulating 2014 Henrik Lundqvist in this current run.

Shesterkin stopped 43 of 44 shots by Carolina in Game 3 as the Rangers won 2-1 despite getting outplayed for most of the game. It helped that the Rangers’ big guns finally got going. Chris Kreider scored the game-winner while Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, and Adam Fox all registered at least a point.

The Russian netminder has put up a 95.6 save percentage in this series and has allowed just four goals against 91 shots. He almost had Carolina in Game 1 the same way he almost had Pittsburgh. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” as they say and so far this series, Shesterkin and the Rangers have Carolina frustrated.

The Home Ice Advantage

Home teams are 39-20 in these playoffs, which is a 66 percent win rate. In comparison, home teams have won 56.7 percent of all playoff games, however, Game 4 has the lowest success rate for hosts at just 49 percent. Game 4 hosts in these playoffs are 4-4 and it’s worth noting that all four teams that lost also lost the series.

For the Rangers, losing means being down in another 1-3 hole. They were able to come back against the Penguins though it took an injury to Sidney Crosby winning two out of the last three games at home. This is different against the Hurricanes, who are the only unbeaten team at home still in the playoffs.

Hurricanes vs Rangers Betting Trends

The Carolina Hurricanes have won eight of their last 10 meetings against the New York Rangers. Carolina has outscored New York 30-18 during this span.

Special teams have been mostly dominated by penalty-killing. In their last 10 meetings, each team has scored just four power-play (PP) goals in total. Neither has a PP higher than 13.3 percent.

The total has gone under seven of their last 10 games. In these seven games, at least one team was held to one goal or fewer, however, only one game has ended in a shutout, which was Game 2 in this series.

The Rangers have won five of their last six home games. If we include the regular season, they are 31-10-5 at home. The Hurricanes are 25-16-4 on the road in total.

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