Carolina Hurricanes at New York Rangers: Lineups and Game Discussion

It’s the final road game of the regular season for the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night, as the Canes will faceoff with the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden with the opportunity to clinch the Metro Division.

If the Canes win Tuesday, they wrap up their second straight division title for the first time in team history. A loss from Carolina would make things a bit more interesting, though even with a defeat the Canes would still be the favorites to win the Metro Thursday.

As for Carolina’s goaltending situation, there was some good news delivered Tuesday morning. While it will be rookie Pyotr Kochetkov starting against the Rangers Tuesday, Antti Raanta’s injury from Sunday is non-serious and he’ll serve as Kochetkov’s backup in MSG.

And while there was no official update from the Hurricanes on the status of Frederik Andersen, The Athletic’s Sara Civian reported on Monday that Andersen could be back for the playoffs.

The Canes are now at the end of a three-game New York/New Jersey stay, and so far it’s been all good for Carolina in terms of results after a win over the Devils and Islanders.

Tuesday the Hurricanes will look to officially clinch the division, though it’ll be a tall task against the Rangers and Vezina frontrunner Igor Shesterkin.

Here’s how the teams will hit the ice Tuesday night in the pivotal division matchup:

Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Max Domi - Vincent Trocheck - Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook - Derek Stepan - Martin Necas

Jaccob Slavin - Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith - Ian Cole

Pyotr Kochetkov
Antti Raanta

Injuries and Scratches: Ethan Bear (healthy), Steven Lorentz (healthy), Frederik Andersen (lower body), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (lower body)

New York Rangers

Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Frank Vatrano
Artemi Panarin - Ryan Strome - Andrew Copp
Alexis Lafreniere - Filip Chytil - Barclay Goodrow
Dryden Hunt - Kevin Rooney - Ryan Reaves

Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K’Andre Miler - Jacob Trouba
Patrik Nemeth - Braden Schneier

Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev

Injuries and Scratches: Libor Hajek (healthy), Julien Gauthier (healthy), Justin Braun (healthy), Greg McKegg (healthy), Jonny Brodzinski (healthy), Tyler Motte (upper body), Kaapo Kakko (lower body)