Rangers are ready for the red-hot Hurricanes
Raleigh, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes needed to finish the regular season strong to hold off the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title. They are benefitting from that push as the teams meet in a second-round playoff series.
The division title secured home-ice advantage through at least two playoff rounds.
The Hurricanes needed every bit of that edge in grinding through a seven-game, first-round series against Boston, with all four wins coming in front of a rowdy home crowd. They open this series at home on Wednesday night.
“I guess I always wondered what does home ice really mean,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “Well, I think it did mean something last series for sure, so I guess we'll see.”
The Hurricanes finished with the NHL's third-best record but didn't secure the division title until beating the Rangers in their second-to-last game on April 26. That came after the Rangers surged to tie the Hurricanes atop the division.
“You had to just keep winning,"
Brind'Amour said. "I think the whole Eastern Conference, really, the top eight teams pushed each other I think all year that way. New York being there at the end when they were battling for us, that helped us stay sharp, too.”
Carolina ended up taking three of the four regular-season meetings with New York, which rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a seven-game thriller.
“They outplayed us in at least three of those games for sure," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of the regular season against Carolina. “It means nothing to me right now. We're a confident team right now, we feel good about our team, we just beat a hell of a good Pittsburgh team.”
Igor the great
New York's Igor Shesterkin is a finalist for both the Vezina Trophy for the league's top goalie and Hart Trophy for most valuable player after a season in which he was 36-13-4 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .935 save percentage, both league bests.
He had 79 saves – the second-most in NHL history – in a triple-overtime Game 1 loss to Pittsburgh.