Rangers vs. Hurricanes: Lineups, storylines eyeing 1st home win
Coming of a very successful road trip, the New York Rangers look to carry that positive momentum back to Madison Square Garden, when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
The Rangers (6-5-2) took three out of four through Western Canada and Seattle and return to New York with their first three-game winning streak since Nov. 14-19 last season. The trip concluded with back-to-back overtime wins — 4-3 over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and 3-2 against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
Coach Mike Sullivan went as far to say that the Rangers regained their “swagger” on the road trip, and did so through collective “sweat equity.”
But will that carry over on to home ice, where the Rangers are winless in five games so far (0-4-1)?
“Just try and bring some of that momentum back,” defenseman Carson Soucy said calmly after practice Monday. “It was a good team-building trip. Went into some tough buildings, got some good comeback wins, obviously some overtime wins. So, yeah, just try and bring that momentum, get a good start and go from there.”
The Rangers scored six goals in five games at The Garden. Five of those were scored in their most recent home game, a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23. They were shut out in each of their first three home games, an NHL record.
But there’s no panic from the Rangers about their lack of home-ice success so far, especially since they did play exceptionally well in three of those five games.
“We’ve only played five games at home, and over an 82-game season, that’s a small sample size,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller explained Monday after practice. “So, at the end of the season if we look back and it’ a really bad home record, then maybe we can look into that, but I still think it’s early on. Definitely take more pride in a sense, our building and making it hard for teams coming in, no doubt. But it’s a pretty small sample size to get worked up about.”
They’ll get a stiff test Tuesday, trying to earn their first home win against the Hurricanes (7-4-0). Sullivan emphasized after the morning skate that the Rangers need to “simplify” their approach against such a quality opponent, even though the Hurricanes have lost three of their past four, including 2-1 to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
The Hurricanes swept the four-game season series against the Rangers in 2024-25. Though that, of course, came on the heels of the Rangers taking out the Hurricanes in six games in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“They’re probably the hardest man-on-man team in the League.” Sullivan noted Tuesday morning.
To that end, the Rangers coach said it’s key to make the Hurricanes “expend energy” defending to make them less aggressive overall.
Scoring some goals on home ice wouldn’t hurt the Rangers’ chances either.
3 storylines when Rangers host Hurricanes
1. K’Andre Miller among those injured for Hurricanes, Rangers
Former Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller skated Tuesday morning for the Hurricanes but isn’t expected to play. He remains on IR with a lower-body injury. This would’ve been his first game against the Rangers after they traded him this past offseason, and he subsequently signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes are also without injured top defenseman Jaccob Slavin, and forwards William Carrier and Eric Robinson. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere’s also been banged up, missing five of the previous six games.
However, goalie Pyotr Kochetkov will make his season debut for the Hurricanes. He’s been out with a lower-body injury, but looked sharp in a start for AHL Chicago over the weekend. He’s 4-2-0 in six regular-season games against the Rangers, with a 2.18 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.
The Rangers are without defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, who has a lower-body injury. Matthew Robertson replaces him on the third pair alongside Braden Schneider. Connor Mackey was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League and will be the extra defenseman.
2. Braden Schneider reaches 300 games played milestone
Schneider plays his 300th NHL game Tuesday. The durable 24-year-old’s played more games than any Rangers defenseman since his NHL debut Jan. 13, 2022, never missing more than the two games he did at the end of last season when he had surgery to repair a torn labrum.
Schneider is tied for second on the Rangers with 30 hits this season and fourth with 14 blocked shots. He is one of 10 players in the League with at least that many hits and blocked shots. He’s also averaging a career-high 18:19 TOI and has four points (one goal, three assists) in 13 games.
He has struggled against the Hurricanes in his career, though. Schneider has one assist and is minus-7 in 15 regular-season games against Carolina.
3. Which stars will finally shine?
Artemi Panarin has two goals and seven points in 13 games for the Rangers. In fact, he’s pointless in five consecutive games entering play Tuesday. That’s pretty much unheard of for Panarin, who led the Rangers in scoring each of his first six seasons with the organization.
“He’s definitely getting some looks,” Sullivan said about Panarin. “I thought the last game (against the Kraken), that’s the best he’s looked, especially on the power play. He was attacking.
“My experience in coaching players of his caliber is sometimes, as coaches, we don’t get in the way there. So, we’re trying to give him a lot of latitude with his offensive game.”
On the other side, Nikolaj Ehlers has yet to score for the Hurricanes, after they signed him to a six-year, $51 million contract in the summer. The 27-year-old forward has scored 225 goals in the NHL, including eight seasons with at least 20 goals for the Winnipeg Jets, but he has just four assists so far with Carolina.
His next assists will be the 300th for Ehlers, who has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in 17 games against the Rangers.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Artemi Panarin — Mika Zibanejad — J.T. Miller
Will Cuylle– Noah Laba– Alexis Lafreniere
Conor Sheary — Juuso Parssinen — Taylor Raddysh
Adam Edstrom — Sam Carrick — Jonny Brodzinski
Vladislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen
Matthew Robertson — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Rangers vs. Hurricanes: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes
When: Tuesday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: TNT/HBO Max
