Game Day Canes at Rangers

Carolina Hurricanes at New York Rangers
January 31, 2015 - 7:00 pm ET
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Blueshirt Banter

Fancy Stats

	Hurricanes	Rangers
Record	17-25-6	27-15-4
Points	40	58
Division Rank	8th Metro	4th Metro
Conference Rank	15th EC	8th EC
Streak	OT 1	Lost 2
Power Play %	17.5%	19.3%
Penalty Kill %	87.4%	82.4%
Goals/Game	2.10	2.89
Goals Against/Game	2.50	2.33
Shots/Game	29.4	30.1
Shots Against/Game	27.9	29.1
ES Goals For %	43.2%	54.9%
ES Corsi For %	51.1%	49.7%
ES PDO	97.5	101.6
PIM/Game	7.6	9.5
Goaltender	Ward	Lundqvist
Record	11-17-4	23-11-3
ES Save Percentage	.914	.935
GAA	2.37	2.26
Goaltender	Khudobin	Talbot
Record	6-8-2	4-4-1
ES Save Percentage	.916	.926
GAA	2.41	2.15

Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• January ends and February begins with an eight-day road trip for the Carolina Hurricanes, taking on an east coast opponent tonight and then heading out to the west coast for three games while the circus is in Raleigh.
• The Canes are 0-1-2 against the Rangers this season, all close, low-scoring affairs ending in a one-goal loss for the fellows wearing the sightless eye.
• There's not a lot new to report this morning Canes-wise relating to tonight's game. They played last night against the St. Louis Blues, came back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game but lost 3-2 in the shootout, and then caught a late flight to New York (FlightAware says they landed in Newark around 1:15 am). Because of the late arrival and back-to-back scenario, they won't skate this morning or hold media availability.
• Bill Peters has confirmed that the three skaters sitting last night (Alexander Semin, Andrej Nestrasil, and John-Michael Liles) will work back into the line-up tonight, but there is no indication yet as to where they would be slotted or who they would replace.
• Cam Ward was originally slated to start tonight's game, but that was before he played almost a full game plus the overtime/shootout last night in early relief of Anton Khudobin. Peters has not confirmed a starter for tonight, though word has it he may be leaning toward Ward again. That said, check out these crazy stats for Khudobin, who has started all the games against the Rangers this season.

Anton Khudobin has a 1.64 GAA and .954 in three appearances against the Rangers this season; he is 0-2-1. Can't make that stat up.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) January 31, 2015

• What is known is that the Hurricanes will end up with a rather impressive record for the month of January, 7-2-2 plus tonight's outcome. It hasn't substantially changed their position in the league standings, but with a healthy roster comes at least a bit more understanding of the team's capabilities.
• The Rangers, on the other hand, have not fared as well of late. Yes, they are still above the playoff cut line in the Eastern Conference, holding down the last wildcard spot. Since the All-Star break they've lost games to the Islanders and Canadiens and have only scored one goal. They've lost four out of their last seven and have been shut out three times. Martin St. Louis has not scored a goal in seven games, and Mats Zuccarello has gone nine games without scoring. Both, by the way, are career point-per-game players against the Canes (along with Derek Stepan).
• The Rangers aren't skating this morning either. Their last game was played Thursday night, and they held a practice yesterday at MSG. Coming out of that practice head coach Alain Vigneault said he expected to make a few changes to the line-up, but those changes apparently won't be divulged until closer to game time.
• Congratulations to Tim Gleason, who will be playing in his 700th career NHL game tonight.

Projected Line-ups

Hurricanes (from Friday's game)

Injuries and Scratches:, Alexander Semin (healthy), Andrej Nestrasil (healthy), John-Michael Liles (healthy)

Rangers (from Thursday's game)

Injuries and Scratches: J.T. Miller (healthy), Matt Hunwick (healthy)