New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes
The Rangers have gone 3-2-1 since the Olympic break but they’ve played much better than their record shows. In none of their games were they grossly outplayed (even against Chicago) and in fact have been regularly winning the possession battles. A few extra saves here and there and this team could be at least 5-1 in those six contests. The line of Martin St. Louis – Brad Richards – Carl Hagelin has been excellent in the three games they’ve been together, with St. Louis posting excellent 5-on-5 possession numbers. Once that line starts getting the bounces, they’ll start filling the net.
Carolina has played themselves right out of the playoff picture with six losses in their last seven games. The problem had been goal scoring but now it’s their goaltending; over their last four games, Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin have combined for a .897 save percentage. No matter how the team is playing, they’re not going to win with the goalies giving performances like that. The power play had been ice cold before scoring in their last game so perhaps that’s the start of a little hot streak for their man advantage.
These two teams have met twice this year, including Friday night, and the Rangers have taken both games by a 9-3 score. The Rangers are too deep up front and are basically superior to the Hurricanes in every facet of the game. For a sneaky stack play, I think the Richards line isn’t a bad way to go tonight. I’m a little tentative on Henrik Lundqvist in net for my 50/50s but will probably roll with him anyway.
|
Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
|
Martin St. Louis (NYR) $11,903 |
Carl Hagelin $5693 |
Brad Richards (NYR) $8131 |
(NYR) $5947 |
Jiri Tlusty |
