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The Hurricanes went 0-4 against the New York Rangers this year, so it’s not shocking to see that many people have them pegged to be upset by New York in the qualifying round. But when you go beyond their record against the Rangers and look at each game individually, it paints a more evenly matched series.
In their first game in November, the Hurricanes lost 4-2, despite outshooting the Rangers by a ridiculous margin of 47-19. The Rangers really didn’t sustain much pressure in Carolina’s end, meanwhile the Hurricanes were seriously getting chances from all over the ice, but Henrik Lundqvist was excellent. They were given time and space, had odd-man rushes, connected on cross-crease passes, created turnovers and sustained pressure in the offensive zone but just couldn’t bury their chances.
In terms of individual players, Carolina’s top forwards just weren’t able to produce. While Sebastian Aho scored three goals against the Rangers this year, Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen all went without a goal on 33 combined shots in the four games.
If the Hurricanes hope to get past the Rangers in the qualifying round, their top players will need to be able to convert on their chances. There’s more to it than that and goaltending will still be a concern, but Carolina’s inability to find the back of the net, despite getting great chances, was the main reason the Hurricanes didn’t win a game against New York this year.
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Here are today's poll questions (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Reviewing this week's polls (June 13): Hurricanes Edition Reviewing which players on the Rangers overperform against Carolina Reviewing which players on the Hurricanes underperform against New York Reviewing which players on the Hurricanes overperform against New York Reviewing this week's polls (June 6): Hurricanes Edition Hurricanes vs. Rangers: Comparing the goalies Hurricanes vs. Rangers: Comparing the defenses SHORT READ: Hurricanes opt not to sign Luke Henman Hurricanes vs. Rangers: Comparing the forwards