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After getting by the New York Islanders in five games to advance past the first round, the Carolina Hurricanes are set for a battle against the New York Rangers in Round 2.
It’s a matchup that a lot of people probably saw coming. The Rangers were able to roll past the Washington Capitals with a sweep, while Carolina took down the Islanders in five games, even despite not necessarily playing at their best.
The Hurricanes and Rangers have met twice in the postseason recently, with the Hurricanes eliminating the Rangers in the 2020 COVID qualifying round, before New York knocked out Carolina in seven games in 2022, to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
Heading into this series though, these teams match up really evenly this year. Below, we take a look at how the teams size up against one another in their roster construction, position by position.
Forwards
While the Hurricanes’ source of offense may be distributed a little more evenly throughout their lineup, the Rangers will very clearly count on their top-six for the bulk of their scoring.
Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere accounted for 60 percent of the Rangers’ goals this year, so we know exactly where to look in terms of threats to the Hurricanes. Plus, with all five contributing in the first round as well, Carolina doesn’t look like they’re about to luck into Panarin facing playoff struggles once again.
The depth is there too, with trade deadline additions Jack Roslovic and Alex Wennberg both fitting well, and both Kaapo Kakko and Will Cuylle able to add some secondary scoring. Filip Chytil now looks to be on the verge of a return as well, which only strengthens the Rangers' offense. Plus, each member of the team’s fourth line had a goal in the first round, and the Hurricanes will have to look forward to getting acquainted with Matt Rempe.
Carolina’s forward group looks arguably just as strong, though. They may not have a single forward on Panarin’s level, but the Hurricanes have been able to effectively spread their talent throughout the lineup, to create a balanced attack. We’ve seen line combination changes, and we’re likely to see more, but the team can get their offense from a range of players.
Jake Guentzel has been the piece the team was missing in previous years, while Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov were great in the first round, and all of Martin Necas, Teuvo Teravainen and Evgeny Kuznetsov were able to chip in. You’d ideally like to see a little more from Sebastian Aho, but it still wasn’t a poor first round from him overall.
Meanwhile, Carolina has some of the best forward depth in the NHL, with all of Stefan Noesen, Jack Drury, Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal able to provide both energy and offense, causing issues for opposing defenders on the forecheck.
The teams finished virtually identical in goals this year, with New York at 278, and Carolina at 277. Both teams can count on offense from the defense group as well, and while the Rangers load up a dangerous top-six, the Hurricanes can roll four lines who can all contribute consistently. Overall, the forward matchup looks a lot more even post-trade deadline.
Defense
Carolina has the better left side depth, in Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei, and Dmitry Orlov. Slavin remains one of the most reliable defensemen in the NHL, but Skjei has had an excellent year as well, and could be a top-pairing defender on most other NHL teams. Meanwhile, Orlov has really come into form as of late and looked very good in the first round, carrying the puck more and continuing to show another level to his game.
For the Rangers, Ryan Lindgren is as tough as anyone and had the best plus-minus of any player on the team, while K’Andre Miller is only continuing to get better, and Erik Gustafsson can add some offense down the lineup. But comparing the groups, the Hurricanes’ left side has the edge, able to both really shut down opponents and add offense, while coming in with a lot more experience than New York’s group. Slavin-Skjei-Orlov may be one of the best left sides in the NHL.
On the right side though, Adam Fox remains an x-factor, with his puck control and playmaking giving him the ability to change a game once he gets inside the offensive zone. Meanwhile, Jacob Trouba can still have success against tough competition, adding a huge mark of physicality to the group as well, while Braden Schneider has shown he’s capable of taking on a top-four role when called upon.
For the Hurricanes though, especially with Brett Pesce out, the right side is a little less complete. Brent Burns can add a lot of offense, but can be a defensive liability at times and needs to rely on a good, defensive partner to allow him to have success. Then Jalen Chatfield is maybe one of the more underrated defenders in the NHL at this point, but he’s still going to be used primarily for shutdown purposes. Without Pesce in the lineup, the Hurricanes then end up relying on Tony DeAngelo as a sixth defenseman, which is always a wild ride, and will provide some boom-or-bust results.
With Pesce in the lineup, I think there’s a case to be made that the Hurricanes’ defense group is stronger, even factoring in that the Rangers have the single best defender of either group in Fox. But given that Pesce’s not expected to suit up for the start of the series, the matchup looks very close with DeAngelo subbing in.
Goaltending
Frederik Andersen has been good, but obviously, there’s not much of a debate here.
Igor Shesterkin may have started slow this season, but he got better as the year went on and was rock solid in the first round of the playoffs. At his best, he’s as good as any other goalie in the world, and his .931 save percentage across Round 1 points to the fact the Hurricanes will be in for a challenge.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out for the Hurricanes in net. There were maybe some expectations we’d see Pyotr Kochetkov get into first round action as well, but Andersen ended up playing all five games.
At times, Andersen looked excellent, and at others, he was a little shaky – which seems like it’s usually kind of the story for Andersen when it comes to the postseason.
Goaltending isn’t a concern for the Hurricanes, but they also don’t have the advantage by any means.
Special Teams
Both the Hurricanes and Rangers were atop the NHL in special teams success this season.
The Hurricanes finished with the second-ranked power play, and the NHL’s best penalty kill. The Rangers ranked third in both. So it’s hard to make any real assumptions about how special teams should affect the series.
Both teams were able to carry their power play momentum into the playoffs as well, with the Hurricanes going 5-for-15 against the Islanders, and the Rangers going 6-for-16 against the Capitals. Maybe the one difference between the teams is that Carolina’s penalty kill didn’t come through quite as well in the first round, allowing three power play goals on 11 Islanders’ opportunities, while the Rangers went 15-for-17 on kills while adding two shorthanded goals. The Hurricanes were the more disciplined team though, so if that were to continue into Round 2, the operating rate of the penalty kill matters a little less.
Regardless, there’s no clear special teams favourite – both teams had huge success overall this year.
More than anything, the series shapes up to be a battle between two very well-built teams. The groups remain very even on paper, and either team has a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup if they can get through the round.
The Rangers have the most talented player at each position, in Panarin, Fox and Shesterkin, but the Hurricanes have a very well-rounded group and excellent depth. Carolina wasn’t necessarily at their best in the first round, so they need to find another gear against the Rangers, but we could certainly be in for a very long, hard-fought series.
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