Carolina Goes After 25th Win at Home
The Carolina Hurricanes joined the Boston Bruins as the only NHL teams with at least 100 points this season after a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday and now the Metropolitan Division rivals meet again. The Rangers are now six points behind second-place New Jersey with 11 games left to play.
Since the start of March, these are the top two penalty-killing teams in the NHL with Carolina at 91.3% and the Rangers at 89.7%. The Hurricanes have allowed two man-advantage goals in 23 opportunities over the last 11 games. The Rangers have given up three power play goals and tallied a short-handed goal over 29 opposing power-play chances during that stretch.
There isn’t much to separate the teams over the last month, with the Rangers going 7-3-1 and the Hurricanes 7-4. They rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in goals-against average during that time so this will not be an easy game to handicap for those making NHL picks.
When looking at some of the NHL news, the Rangers welcomed back defenseman Ryan Lindgren after he missed the previous 11 games and New York is in good shape from an injury department.
That is not the case for Carolina. Hurricanes third-leading goal scorer Andrei Svechnikov (knee) and fellow winger Max Pacioretty are out for the season. Forward Ondrej Kase, defenseman Jake Gardiner and goalie Antti Raanta are also out.
According to the NHL playoff odds, the Hurricanes (+900) are tied for third and the Rangers (+1100) fifth in the odds to win the Stanley Cup title.
Ready for a New Streak
Few players were any hotter than New York’s Mika Zibanejad as he had four straight multi-point games, the longest such streak in his 12 NHL seasons.
That streak came to an end as Zibanejad had no goals and no assists in Tuesday’s loss. The Rangers are 6-13-5 this season when Zibanejad fails to record a point.
The last time he went without either a goal or an assist, he responded with two goals in a win over Washington earlier this month.
Zibanejad did have two goals and an assist in New York’s first two games against the Hurricanes this season.
The Las Vegas odds total has the New York Rangers as the underdog.
Back to its Winning Ways
The members of the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t panic when they were shut out in back-to-back games and managed just one goal in a span of three games. Carolina responded by winning three of the next four games to remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Nine different Carolina players had at least one goal during that stretch.
Defenseman Brady Skjei and forward Sebrastian Aho led the way with three goals each while combining for 12 shots in four games. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Necas had two goals each.
Jack Drury not only had his first goal of the season in a win over Winnipeg, it was his first game-winning goal at the NHL level. It would make for interesting conversations if he manages to do that on Thursday, considering that his uncle, Chris Drury, is the general manager of the Rangers. Drury had an assist in Tuesday’s win over New York.
The NHL betting lines total has gone over in four of Boston’s last six games.
Rangers vs Hurricanes Game Injuries
Rangers vs Hurricanes Head-to-Head
The Hurricanes snapped a four-game losing streak to the Rangers on Tuesday with four different players scoring.
It was the first time in nine meetings between Carolina and New York that the game was decided by one goal as Teuvo Teravainen scored with 2:33 left in the third period.
The sauce ➡️ the Finnish pic.twitter.com/B9av5AVVlC
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 22, 2023
The game went under the total after the previous four matchups finished over the total.
Rangers vs Hurricanes Game Information
- Game: New York Rangers (41-20-10) vs Carolina Hurricanes (46-15-8)
- Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
- Day/Time: Thursday, March 23, 7:00 p.m. ET
- Rangers vs Hurricanes Live Stream: NHL.TV
Rangers vs Hurricanes Betting Lines
Rangers vs Hurricanes Picks and Prediction
It was a pretty tame game when the Hurricanes and Rangers met on Tuesday. Only four penalties were called and there were just 26 recorded hits. Will things get a little feistier with the teams meeting for the second time in the last three days?
Both teams have made recent acquisitions for the playoff push. For the Rangers, forwards Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko have been held scoreless in each of the last two games. On the Carolina side, puck-moving defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has one point in the last eight games after having two goals and two assists in his first four games with the Hurricanes. Former top-five pick Jesse Puljujarvi has not recorded a point in his first six games with Carolina.
The Rangers have converted on 25% of their power plays in March. That seems like a good number until looking at Carolina scoring on 34.6% of its power plays during that span. These are two very evenly matched teams so another one-goal game is a definite possibility.
The Hurricanes are 41-17-6 when listed by the sportsbook as the favorite. The Rangers are 8-9-5 as the underdog.
The New York Rangers are listed at +120 in our Vegas NHL lines. This means that if you wager $100 on the Rangers, you have a chance to win $120. Carolina is -140, offering a chance to win $71 on a $100 wager. The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the New York Rangers a 45.45% chance to win, with the Carolina Hurricanes at 58.33%.
Rangers vs Hurricanes Trends
Rangers vs Hurricanes Edge
Rangers vs Hurricanes Results
Rangers vs Hurricanes Game Summary
