Rangers vs. Hurricanes recipes to win, lineup decisions, matchups to watch

For the second consecutive NHL playoffs series, New York Rangers coach Peter Laviolette will coach against one of his former teams. After sweeping the Washington Capitals in the first round, the Rangers are about to face the Carolina Hurricanes, with whom Laviolette won the Stanley Cup in 2006.

During Wednesday’s news conference, the 59-year-old coach didn’t give much credence to that storyline. He joked he would have been coaching against one of his former teams no matter who won the Hurricanes versus New York Islanders series — he coached the Isles from 2001-2003 — and said he’s past the statute of limitations for talking about going against his old club .

“This is just a series,” he said.

And it has the makings of a good one. The Rangers and Hurricanes had the two best records in the Eastern Conference this season, and they played a seven-game series in 2022. The teams met three times in the regular season, and two showdowns were one-goal games.

“They’ve been the standard of the division the last couple of years,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “They’ve been a consistently good team for years now. We’ve gotten better over the years, and it’s going to be a great series.”

The Athletic‘s Peter Baugh and Michael Russo look ahead to the matchup, with Baugh focusing on the Rangers and Russo on the Hurricanes.

How much pressure is on each team?

Baugh: The Rangers’ contention window doesn’t close after this season, but they have high expectations after winning the Presidents’ Trophy. So far, everything in these playoffs has gone to plan for the Rangers. They got a relatively easy first-round opponent in Washington and didn’t lose any players to injury in the series.

Considering New York’s regular-season success, failing to get out of the second round would make for a huge disappointment, especially because many of the team’s key players are past 30 years old. Artemi Panarin is 32. Chris Kreider is 33 and Mika Zibanejad is 31. None has shown major signs of regression, but the Rangers need to capitalize while they’re still playing at a high level. That adds pressure.

Rousseau: For Carolina, it’s not as much pressure as expected. Expectations are always high for the Hurricanes, who have advanced past the first round (including the 2020 bubble qualifier) ​​six consecutive seasons and last year reached the Eastern Conference final for the second time in six years under coach Rod Brind’Amour. But as Brind’Amour said after ousting the Isles on Tuesday night, they have bigger things they’re shooting for than getting to the second or third round again.

But adding to the intrigue is that, while their window is far from closing, the Hurricanes could look very different next year.

First of all, Brind’Amour, himself, is a pending free agent if the Hurricanes can’t come to an agreement, something general manager Don Waddell said Wednesday he’s confident will happen.

The Hurricanes also have to re-sign pending restricted free agents Seth Jarvis and Martin Nečas and have several high-profile players pending for unrestricted free agency if unsigned, including Jake Guentzel, Brett Pesce, former Ranger Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teräväinen, Stefan Noesen, Jordan Martinook, Jalen Chatfield and everybody’s favorite former Ranger, Tony DeAngelo.

“Yeah, I lose sleep over it some nights because we have something good going here, and we’d like to keep it going,” Waddell told The Athletic.

What’s each team’s recipe to win?

Baugh: New York didn’t have a great series at five-on-five against Washington, but the sweep showcased the Rangers’ elite goaltending and special teams units. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin had a rough patch in the middle of the regular season, but he’s been excellent since, going 17-5-1 with a .929 save percentage after the All-Star break. He continued his stellar play against the Capitals, posting a .931 save percentage in the first round.

I’ll go more in-depth with special teams in a bit, but New York finished with a top-three power play and penalty kill in the regular season, and both units looked excellent against Washington. The Capitals scored only two power-play goals despite getting 17 chances, and New York had a 37.5 percent success rate on the power play, at times seeming to pick apart the Capitals with ease. A special teams goal per game goes a long way in the playoffs when five-on-five play gets tighter.

Although Shesterkin can swallow up defensive mistakes and the power play can add goals, New York will likely need to generate more offense at five-on-five than it did against the Capitals. The Rangers outscored Washington only 7-5 at five-on-five during their sweep.

Rousseau: Defense is the Hurricanes’ bread and butter, but this team should be able to score at an easier clip than last postseason, when they didn’t make any huge trade deadline additions, then lost Andrei Svechnikov to a torn ACL not long after the trade deadline.

Now, after scoring six goals in their conference final sweep to the Florida Panthers, Svechnikov is back, plus they added proven playoff performers in Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the trade deadline.

But the Canes know they’ve got to defend against a Rangers team that can light you up. They have to stay out of the box against the Rangers’ potent power play, and Frederik Andersen will have to stand tall. The Canes went with a strict goalie rotation after Andersen returned from a scary blood clotting issue in March. But in the playoffs, he started five games and some wondered if he was starting to wear down.

So the rest between Rounds 1 and 2 should do him good.

The Hurricanes could use Jake Guentzel to be more assertive in Round 2. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

Which skater needs to play well for each team to win?

Baugh: The Rangers could use a big series from Panarin against the strong Hurricanes. The winger, who had a career-high 120 points in the regular season, was solid facing the Capitals, tallying three points in four games, but did not have as much success at even strength. New York had less than 40 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five. Panarin did, though, have two points in the clincher, which Laviolette believed was important going into the second round, even if both came on the power play.

“You want that confidence because it builds guys feeling the puck; they’re moving the puck, they’re producing,” the coach said. “That’s what they thrive in. But again, he had an amazing year as well, and I think that work through the course of the year has set himself and pushed himself to a point where now he can enter the playoffs and continue to play that way.”

If the Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière line is generating at five-on-five, the Rangers can reach another level, especially if the Zibanejad line continues chipping in goals, as was the case against Washington.

Rousseau: The one thing that’s a definite if you’re going to go on a long playoff run: You need different players to contribute. For instance, during the Canes’ 2002 run to the Stanley Cup Final, one series it was the famed “BBC Line” of Brind’Amour, Bates Battaglia and Erik Cole dominating, the next series it was Jeff O’Neill, Ron Francis and Sami Kapanen.

If that’s the case, the Canes could use a big series from Guentzel, who was a 2017 revelation for the Pittsburgh Penguins but had a fairly quiet first round on a line with Sebastian Aho and Svechnikov. After arriving from Pittsburgh, there were few better lines in the league than Guentzel, Aho and Jarvis, so perhaps Brind’Amour will flirt with a reunion at some point.

But Guentzel seemed to be too unselfish in the first round and, away from the puck, probably had his worst game as a Cane in the second period of Game 5. That’s why you half expect him to be a prolific shooter against the Rangers because even Waddell made it clear Wednesday that he’d like Guentzel to get back to that MO in the second round.

What’s the biggest lineup decision each coach has to make?

Baugh: Laviolette has no reason to change his defensive pairs, but he’ll likely have to consider adjusting his forward group at some point in the series. Matt Rempe played all four games against the Capitals, scoring the first goal of the playoffs for the Rangers, but he might have a tougher time against the deep, potent Hurricanes. He looks likely to play Game 1 against Carolina, considering he took line rushes at practice Wednesday. Laviolette does not appear eager to change the lineup that has gone 4-0 so far this postseason.

If New York eventually loses a game, Laviolette might have to change tracks. Jonny Brodzinski, who played 57 games in the regular season, could be an option in Rempe’s place, but the big question is Filip Chytil. The 24-year-old missed almost the entire season with concussion issues but has been skating with the team with no limitations. If he’s able to play, he would offer a big boost.

Rousseau: Like Laviolette, it’s hard to imagine Brind’Amour making any changes for Game 1 unless necessity demands it.

DeAngelo did have to go for X-rays following Game 5 after being slashed. Waddell said Wednesday everything was negative and he should be fine. We’ll see if he practices Thursday. Pesce hasn’t played since Game 2 of the Islanders series, but Waddell said Wednesday he’s out of his walking boot and is expected to return at some point against the Rangers.

What’s one matchup that intrigues you?

Baugh: The Hurricanes might be the only team in the league with better special teams than the Rangers. Brind’Amour’s club had the best regular-season penalty kill and second-best power play. As stated earlier, special teams are key for New York. If Carolina finds a way to swing that area, the Hurricanes might be in prime position to knock off the No. 1 seed.

Rousseau: How Brind’Amour deploys Jordan Staal’s line with Teravainen, the third-best playoff goal scorer in Hurricanes history, and Jarvis, who was so good in the first round and especially in Game 5. This is almost becoming the bubbly Jarvis’ team before our very eyes.

But Staal is still a tremendous defensive center and wasn’t on the ice for a single five-on-five goal against in the first round. And after the Aho line got caught on the ice for two goals against the Bo Horvat line in the second period Tuesday, Staal’s line shut Horvat’s line down in the third period. Still, Jesper Fast’s injury hurts that Staal line a tad, so we’ll see how they do going up against Zibanejad’s line or Trocheck’s line (or both) in the next round.

(Top photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)