The Hurricanes look to take a commanding series lead in Game 2 against the Rangers this afternoon coming off of a big Game 1 win on Saturday.
Game Notes
- The Rangers swept the 2019-20 season series against the Hurricanes, picking up all four games. The Canes have a disappointing 56-76-7-9 record against the Rangers in franchise history.
- The Canes kept most of the usual suspects off the board in Game 1 (except Zibanejad, of course), and will have to continue to shut down skill players like Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Ryan Strome in this series.
- Rangers Head Coach David Quinn mentioned that he thought his team was too physical in Game 1, which he believed negatively impacted their play. The Canes will surely continue to bring the playoff physicality, keep an eye on how the Rangers respond this afternoon.
- Jaccob Slavin scored his first career NHL postseason goal just one minute into the first period on Saturday. This marked the fourth-fastest game-opening goal in franchise postseason history.
- Martin Necas made his playoff debut on Saturday, and scored the game-winning goal just passed the 10 minute mark of the third period. He is the ninth player in franchise history to score in his postseason debut and just the third to score the game winning goal in his debut. Can you guess the other two?
- Andrei Svechnikov picked up an assist in Game 1, tallying his sixth point (3g, 3a) in 10 career postseason games. The 20-year-old has registered more career postseason goals and points than any other player in franchise history before their 21st birthday.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes played like the team with more playoff experience on Saturday, and they’ll have to continue. There was much contention about the starting goaltending position leading up to the series, but Petr Mrazek played a solid game despite historically struggling against New York. The biggest key to the game today is keeping those high impact players out of the high danger scoring areas. I wouldn’t expect too many changes to the Canes lineup today, here’s what you can expect:
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter - Vincent Trochek - Martin Necas
Warren Foegele - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams
Brock McGinn - Morgan Geekie - Jordan Martinook
Jaccob Slavin - Sami Vatanen
Brady Skjei - Joel Edmundson
Jake Gardiner - Haydn Fleury
Petr Mrazek
James Reimer
New York Rangers
The Rangers come into today’s game down a man as Jesper Fast has been ruled out — he took a hit from former Ranger Brady Skjei early on and never returned to the bench. David Quinn hinted at the possibility of Kaapo Kakko slotting up onto the second line to replace the injured Fast after a strong showing on Saturday. Mika Zibanejad and Tony DeAngelo didn’t skate yesterday, but will reportedly be in the lineup today. Quinn did not comment on who would be in net this afternoon. Here’s how you can expect the Rangers to look:
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin - Ryan Strome - Kaapo Kakko
Phil Di Guiseppe - Filip Chytil - Steven Fogarty
Brett Howden - Greg McKegg - Julien Gauthier
Brendan Smith - Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Marc Staal - Anthony DeAngelo
Henrik Lundqvist/Igor Shesterkin