New York Rangers week ahead includes 1st meeting with Hurricanes
The New York Rangers have their second straight four-game week, highlighted by their first meeting of the season with the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes, and including a back-to-back set of afternoon games bookending Thanksgiving Day.
The best news for the Rangers from their just-concluded four-game trip to the Northwest is that they don’t have to go back to Alberta until next season (barring a trip to the Stanley Cup Final). After Jonathan Quick blanked the Seattle Kraken 2-0 on Nov. 17 and Igor Shesterkin helped the Rangers defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 two nights later, the goaltenders were buried under a barrage of shots from the two Alberta teams.
Shesterkin did everything but stand on his head in Calgary on Thursday, facing 20 shots in the first period and a total of 49 in a 3-2 loss to the Flames. Two nights later, it was Quick’s turn in the barrel; he faced 21 shots in the opening period and 40 overall in a 6-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. The Oilers skated rings around the Rangers, who sometimes looked like they were wearing snowshoes rather that skates on a night that saw Edmonton hit by a major snowstorm. The offense generated little and the defense surrendered a boatload of Grade A scoring chances.
Three of the Rangers’ four games this week are against sub-.500 teams. The other one is a Thanksgiving Eve visit to the Hurricanes, who no doubt will be eager to exact a little revenge for last spring’s loss in the second round of the Sanley Cup Playoffs.
Who’s hot
Third-line left wing Will Cuylle continues to shine. He had a goal and an assist in the win at Vancouver and scored again in Calgary, giving him 15 points (seven goals, eight assists). He’s tied for third on the team in points – and is tied for fifth in the NHL with 79 hits.
Who’s not
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist in the win at Vancouver. But the first-line center did nothing in the two games in Alberta, and he dropped to a team-worst minus-10 with a minus-4 showing against Connor McDavid and Co. on Saturday.
Related: ESPN legend picks Mike Richter as Rangers ultimate Game 7 goalie
Rangers lookahead this week includes …
Four games in six days, including a three-in-four stretch that includes the visit to Carolina on Wednesday and the afternoon games Friday at Philadelphia and Saturday at home against Montreal. By Saturday night, the Rangers will have played eight games in 14 days and traveled between each one to close out the month of November.
St. Louis Blues at Rangers (Nov. 25, 7 p.m. ET; MSG)
The Blues, and former Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich, continue their swing through the New York area when they visit Madison Square Garden on Monday. The Rangers have dominated the all-time series with a 84-48-3 record and 16 ties, but the teams have split their past 10 games. The Garden has never been a fun stopover for the Blues; the Rangers are 51-15-1 with six ties all-time.
The Blues will play their first game under coach Jim Montgomery, who replaced the fired Drew Bannister on Sunday. Unfortunately, he can’t score for them.
St. Louis is having a terrible time scoring goals; the Blues have just six during a 1-3-0 slide and beat Ilya Sorokin just once in a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday. Buchnevich is second on the team with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 22 games, though he has gone five games without a goal. The 29-year-old has four points (two goals, two assists) in five games against the Rangers, who traded him to the Blues on July 23, 2021.
Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes (Nov. 27, 7 p.m. ET; MSG2)
This will be the first meeting between the teams since Game 6 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring, when Chris Kreider’s third-period hat trick rallied the Rangers to a 5-3 series-clinching victory in Raleigh.
Despite losing Jake Guentzel, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei, among others, in free agency, the Hurricanes are the same team they were last season. They push the tempo, shoot from anywhere and count on their forwards to get to the front of the net and make life miserable for opposing goalies. The most impressive player has been forward Martin Necas, who’s second on the ‘Canes in goals (11, one behind ex-Rangers forward Jack Roslovic) and is tops in assists (22) and points (33).
Carolina has issues between the peipes, though. Frederik Andersen is out 8-12 weeks with a knee injury that required surgery, and Pyotr Kochetkov was injured in overtime during a 5-4 shootout loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets. If Kochetkov is sidelined, journeyman Spencer Martin, who replaced Kochetkov against the Blue Jackets, is next in line.
Rangers at Philadelphia Flyers (Nov. 29, 1 p.m. ET; MSG2)
The Rangers spend Black Friday afternoon renewing acquaintances with the Flyers and former coach John Tortorella. It will be their first look at Philadelphia’s prized rookie, forward Matvei Michkov, who’s an early favorite for the Calder Trophy and had the overtime winner Saturday in a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Shesterkin has excelled against the Flyers in his career, 8-3-1 with a 2.23 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. Artemi Panarin has also piled up big numbers against the orange and black; he has 14 goals and 44 points in 33 games.
The Flyers hope No. 1 goaltender Samuel Ersson will be back this week from a lower-body injury sustained at practice Nov. 13. He is 5-2-2 with a 2.70 GAA and a .902 save percentage. Philadelphia’s other two goalies, Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov, are a combined 5-8-0 with a save percentage of .876.
Montreal Canadiens at Rangers (Nov. 30, 1 p.m. ET; MSG/NHL Network)
The Rangers will try to make it 2-for-2 this season against their longtime rival. Their 7-2 victory at Bell Centre on Oct. 22 was the most goals they’d scored in Montreal since a 7-3 win on Feb. 22, 1972.
New York is 201-343-4 with 94 ties all-time against Montreal but has won three in a row, outscoring Montreal 19-8, and is 7-2-1 in the last 10 meetings.
The Canadiens, who are next-to-last in the overall standings, enter the week 7-11-2, tied with Chicago for the fewest points in the League (16). They are coming off a 6-2 home loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, a game that fell apart in the second period when Vegas scored five unanswered goals.
Through Saturday, Montreal’s minus-21 goal differential is tied for third-worst in the NHL, and the Canadiens start the week without a player who has a plus rating — defenseman Kaiden Guhle is even, the other 22 players are minus-1 or worse, with forward Kirby Dach at minus-15, fourth-worst in the NHL.
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