Rangers vs Hurricanes - NHL Qualifying Round Preview & Prediction

We continue to inch closer to the restart of the NHL season. Once they do restart the season, it will start with the playoffs as the rest of the regular season has been canceled. We know the matchups for the qualifying round of the playoffs and I will be taking a look at each one of the next week to 10 days.

Here are other the previews I have done so far:

Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Playoff Format

The NHL playoffs will have 24 teams in it with the 16 of those teams playing in eight best-of-five Qualifying round matchups. The Top four teams in each conference will then square off against each other in a round-robin style format to determine the seeding of those four teams. The four teams from the West that win their Qualifying Matchup will face the top four teams in that conference and the same for the East. The Western Conference playoffs will take play in one hub city and the Eastern Conference will do the same. The hub cities have not yet been announced.

Right now, I will look at the Matchup between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are favored to win the series at -140 while the Rangers are dogs of +120.

A Look At The Rangers

Regular Season Stats & Rankings: The Rangers are 5th in scoring at 3.33 gpg, 20th in shots per game at 31.1, and 7th in powerplay conversions at 22.9%. On the defensive end of the ice, they finished at 23rd in goals allowed at 3.14 gpg, 30th in shots allowed at 34.0 spg, and 23rd in penalty kill at 77.4%.

Thanks to the break and the expanded playoff system, the New York Rangers are in the playoffs. New York finished in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 79 points. New York did have a stretch where they went 9-1 down the stretch but they did enter the pause having gone 2-5 in their finals seven games. As you can see above, the offense has not been the issue for the Rangers this year and despite going just 2-5 in their last seven games they still averaged 3.14 gpg over that stretch. In their previous 10 games, the Rangers put up a healthy 3.80 gpg. This is a team that can beat you with their offense, but it may not be all that easy here against a Carolina team that has been solid in the crease this year. Leading the team in points has been Artemi Panarin, who had 95 while Mika Zibanejad was 2nd with 75 and Ryan Strome was 3rd with 59. Leading the team in goals has been Zibanejad with 41 while Panarin is 2nd with 32 and Chris Kreider is 3rd with 24.

The problem for the Rangers this year has been in the crease as they have allowed far too many goals. It starts with a defense that has allowed the 2nd most shots per game in the league. Alexandar Georgiev played in 34 games this year and he went 17-16 with a 3.04 GAA in those games, including 13-6 with a 2.88 GAA away from home. He has gone 1-1 with a 5.07 GAA against the Hurricanes in his career. Georgiev has no playoff experience. Henrik Lundqvist has plenty of playoff experience, which I will get to in a moment. He played in 30 games this year and went 10-15 with a 3.16 GAA in those games, including 2-9 with a 3.32 GAA on the road. In his career, he has gone 61-65 with a 2.28 GAA in 128 playoff games and 33-13 with a 2.00 GAA in 46 career starts against the Hurricanes.

A Look At The Hurricanes

Regular Season Stats & Rankings: The Hurricanes are 11th in scoring at 3.19 gpg, 3rd in shots per game at 33.3, and 8th in powerplay conversions at 22.3%. On the defensive end of the ice, they finished at 11th in goals allowed at 2.84 gpg, 2nd in shots allowed at 29.3 spg, and 4th in penalty kill at 84.0%.

The Hurricanes had a solid season this year as they finished 6th in the Eastern Conference with 81 points. The break may have saved them though as they have just a two-point lead over the Rangers and they were tied with the Blue Jackets, who were in the 9th spot. Had the season finished in full, the Hurricanes could have very well missed the postseason. They did win their final three games before the pause but they did go 8-12 in their previous 20 games. The offense has been hit or miss down the stretch as the Canes have averaged 4.60 gpg in their last 10 wins while averaging just 1.83 gpg in their last 12 losses. Carolina will need to find their offense in this series and the Rangers can score a lot. Leading their attack in points this year has been Sebastian Aho with 66 while Teuvo Teravainen is 2nd with 63 and Andrei Svechnikov is 3rd with 61. Aho leads the team in goals with 38 while 2nd is Svechnikov with 24 and 3rd is Martin Necas with 16.

The Hurricanes have been solid at the other end of the Ice and they are 2nd in the league in shots allowed per game. They will need the defense to step up against a very solid new York offense in this one. Petr Mrazek is the lead goalie and he was 21-18 with a 2.69 GAA in 40 games overall, including 6-10 with a 2.99 GAA on the road. In his career, he has gone 3-4 with a 3.03 GAA against the Rangers and 4-6 with a 1.88 GAA in the postseason. Backing him up will be James Reimer, who was 14-8 with a 2.66 GAA in 25 games overall, including 10-4 with a 2.71 GAA away from home. Reimer has gone 5-4 with a 3.54 GAA against the Rangers and 3-4 with a 2.87 GAA in the postseason.

Prediction

This should be a good series between a couple of teams that had their moments this year. The Hurricanes are the better overall team and a big reason for that is their big edge on the defensive end of the ice. They are 2nd in the league in shots allowed per game while the Rangers are 30th and Carolina has the overall better goaltending. Henrik Lundqvist has great numbers in his career against the Hurricanes, but he has struggled overall this year and may not even be in there a lot as Alexandar Georgiev has had more playing time this year than he has. I will be looking for the Hurricanes to win this series in five games. I will also be looking for this to be a high scoring series. Both offenses have played well this year while both Ranger goalies have struggled and Mrazek has a 3.03 GAA against New York in his career and Reimer has a 3.54 GAA in his career against them. Take the Canes to win a high-scoring series. Carolina -140