Welcome back to another day of NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are happening and gives our predictions for each one, breaking down head-to-head and other factors that may play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today’s featured game is the only game of the day, the New York Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes.
NHL Predictions with New York Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes
Series: Hurricanes 3-2 Rangers
Carolina was back at home and back to its winning ways in Game 5, beating New York 3-1. The Hurricanes had double the amount of shots on goal the Rangers did, outshooting them 34-17. Andrei Svechnikov led Carolina with five shots, and Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teravainen and Nino Niederreiter were next with four each. In comparison, New York only had one player with four shots, Ryan Strome, and two players with two shots, Mika Zibanejad and Andrew Copp.
The Hurricanes got goals from Vincent Trocheck, Teravainen and Svechnikov, while the Rangers got one from Zibanejad. Carolina scored a short-handed goal, a power-play goal and an even-strength goal.
While Hurricanes starting goalie Antti Raanta was not challenged too much, he stopped all but one of the 17 shots that came his way. Although New York starter Igor Shesterkin got the loss, he stopped 31 of 34 shots, good for a .912 save percentage.
New York Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes Series So Far
There has not really been a blowout game in this series so far. Carolina won Game 1 2-1 in overtime and Game 2 2-0, the Rangers won Game 3 3-1 and Game 4 4-1 and the Hurricanes won Game 5 3-1. Most games have been won by one or two goals. The only one that was not was won by New York. Shots have been close for the majority of the series.
The Rangers outshot Carolina 28-26 in Game 1, the Hurricanes outshot New York 22-21 in Game 2, 44-33 in Game 3, 31-28 in Game 4 and 34-17 in Game 5.
Zibanejad leads both teams with three goals in the five games so far in this series. He’s tied with Adam Fox and Carolina’s Sebastian Aho and Teravainen for the most points in the series with four. Svechnikov leads both teams in shots with 15. Teammates Teravainen and Trocheck plus Rangers center Zibanejad are next with 13 each.
New York Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes Game 6 Prediction
Carolina has the momentum on its side from the win, but it has not won a single postseason game this season on the road, and Game 6 is at Madison Square Garden. Not to mention, the home team has won every game so far in this series. Because of that, the Rangers might have a chance to send this series against the best team in the Eastern Conference in the regular season to Game 7, but they are going to need guys like Artemi Panarin, who led New York in scoring with 96 points in the regular season but only has two points in this series, to step up.
Prediction: Rangers win 3-2 in OT
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