Gold: Big night in the Big Apple for the Canes
Posted April 12, 2022 8:56 a.m. EDT
On February 20 the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Penguins in Pittsburgh and assumed sole control of first place in the Metropolitan Division. Since then, there were occasions in which they were tied atop the standings, but Carolina has always had games in hand – i.e., more games remaining in which to earn points.
The Canes haven’t been out of first place since February 15, nearly two months ago.
Tonight, with the lead over the New York Rangers down to just 2 points and with all games in hand gone, the Hurricanes will be on Broadway. Carolina will meet the Rangers at Madison Square Garden to play the first of two remaining games with their division rivals needing to not cede ground in order to stay on top of the Metro.
On March 1st, these were the top three in the Metropolitan Division.
Carolina 37-11-4, 78 points
Pittsburgh 33-14-8, 74 points
NY Rangers 33-15-5, 71 points
Since, the Rangers have the best record in the division at 14-5-1. They’ve scored 3.4 goals per game thanks in large part to a power play that has clicked at a 30% success rate. It also coincides for the most part with a pair of trade deadline acquisitions in Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano.
Copp arrived from Winnipeg on deadline day, is skating with Artiemi Panerin and Ryan Strome on the Rangers’ top line and has 4 goals and 11 points in 10 games since the move. Vatrano was a gift from the Panthers, as much for Florida’s benefit as anything, to clear cap room so they could bring in Claude Giroux from Philadelphia. But, Vatrano has been excellent for the Blue Shirts, scoring 6 times in 13 games and is now playing with Chris Kreider and Mike Zibanejad to form an outstanding and lethal second line.
Vatrano sealed the most recent 2-0 New York win over the Canes with an empty net goal after Kreider’s 2nd period high slot deflection gave the Rangers the only goal they’d need.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have struggled to score since the end of February. 2.9 goals per game and a power play that has connected on just 16% of its chances, both well off the numbers that had them as one of the top 4 or 5 offenses in the league through February.
With that said, Carolina can’t lack confidence seeing as how they played in each meeting against the Rangers this year. The Canes throttled New York, 6-3, in January as Sebastian Aho and Tony DeAngelo each had a goal and two assists. Then, two months later, it was one of those everything-but-a-goal type of nights as Carolina peppered Alexandar Georgiev with 44 shots, but couldn’t get one through in that 2-0 loss.
The Line: Carolina -125/New York +105. O/U: 5 ½ goals.
Storm Watch starring Dennis Cox rolls at 6:30 on 99.9 the Fan with the opening face off coming just after 7:00. Be sure to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.
