In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the titular hero fought the titular villain in a thrilling knife battle on a street. The two super soldiers go back and forth, throwing earth-shaking haymakers until Captain America grabs the villain by his mask and throws him to the ground. The fall prompts the Winter Soldier's mask to come off and Cap (as well as the audience) see his face for the first time. "Bucky?," a confused Cap says as he stares at his lifelong friend. "Who the hell is 'Bucky'?", replies the Winter Soldier, not remembering his own name. Much like this great scene, the New York Rangers will look across the ice at PNC Arena Wednesday night and see no shortage of familiar faces that once wore their very own Blueshirts. However, they are all different versions of who they were since they last donned a Rangers' jersey, and there's plenty of reinforcements worthy of Hydra behind them.
Superstars: New York Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad may have woke up from his postseason slumber in Game 6. The 29 goal scorer notched his first two goals in Game 6 within 76 seconds of each other. For an encore, the 6'2" center fired in the game tying goal with 5:45 remaining in Game 7. Zibanejad was tasked with trying to shutdown Sidney Crosby last series, and he's likely to see A LOT of Sebastian Aho in this series. His 11 playoff points are tops on the Rangers, but he'll need to be better with his 49.07 face-off percentage. He has won face-offs in clutch situations, but Carolina dominates in the circles with a 53.9% clip.
Carolina's Sebastian Aho DOMINATED the Rangers in 2020's Bubble Play-in Round. Aho and Andre Svechnikov made short work of Blueshirts in the only 3 game sweep of that play-in round and they proved too much for the Rangers to handle as they ended Henrik Lundqvist's career. See the goal Aho scores, completely undressing Tony Deangelo to stick a fork in the Rangers. This year, the Finnish center posted a career high 37 goals as he made his second All Star Game appearance. His 81 points are 12 more than linemate Andre Svechnikov, and his line became only DEADLIER when they added Seth Jarvis, who has 21 points in the last two months. Aho can not only shut down your superstar, but he can also bury the puck in your net. The Rangers will have their hands full again with Aho.
Defense: The once Carolina prospect Adam Fox is the reigning Norris trophy winner. K'Andre Miller is a budding star on defense, and Jacob Trouba has been solid for the Rangers this season, but the key defenseman for the Rangers in this series will be rookie Braden Schneider. The defenseman that the Blueshirts jumped over the New Jersey Devils to get has been EXCELLENT since joining the team in January. Schneider has been saddled with the lackluster Patrik Nemeth. The Swedish defenseman has been removed from the Rangers lineup the last couple of games and Schneider has been noticeably better. The Rangers were the best team in the NHL at holding down scoring chances post-trade deadline. They'll need to keep that up in this series.
Often great defensemen can be overshadowed because offense catches the eyes. That's why the Hurricanes can boast arguably the most underrated defenseman in the league in Jacob Slavin. Many writers insist in the creation of a defensive defenseman award (perhaps named after Rod Langway) and Slavin would be first in line to get it. That said, Slavin has a team high 8 points in his first round series vs the Boston Bruins. That's as many as the EXTREMELY offensive ex-Ranger Tony Deangelo. His plus 10 is tops of any player in this series on either team, and he'll likely be matched up against Artemi Panarin. The Rangers’ forward put up a couple of highlights against him in their last game, but Slavin was a defensive stalwart. Deangelo also has 8 points in this playoffs while enjoying a resurgent season after last year's controversial end with the Rangers. The Canes will have plenty of defensive depth as Brett Pesce, two-time Stanley Cup winner Ian Cole, and ex-Rangers Brendan Smith and Brady Skjei.
Goaltenders: It's a fact that the Rangers Igor Shesterkin had a difficult first round. His numbers were nowhere close to his dominant regular season numbers. He was pulled in Games 3 and 4, and just won three straight games facing elimination. That's Henrik Lundqvist-esc. His save percentage is currently .911 and is climbing. I hypothesized that Igor could be wearing down, but if Igor is getting his second wind, it couldn't be at a better time. He is winless against the Canes this season and will need to win 4 times. The Canes were dispatched by a Russian goalie last season (Vasilevskiy). Can it happen again?
Antti Raanta served as Henrik Lundqvist's backup in 2017-18, but played so well that the Rangers parlayed him (and current teammate Derek Stepan) into a draft pick (Lias Andersson) and a prospect (Tony Deangelo). Raanta came to Carolina to backup Freddie Andersen, but with Andersen out, its Raanta's net. He has responded with a 2.37 Goals Against and a .927 Save %. Raanta is holding down the fort, but can he keep it up against a deeper offensive team in New York than Boston?
Under-the-radar player: In 2019, the New York Rangers drafted Kaapo Kakko second
overall. He was the face of the New York Rangers rebuild. The Finnish forward has had plenty of ups and downs in his 3 years as a New York Ranger, but without a doubt, his best hockey came in the first round victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Though his one goal and one assist aren't jaw dropping by any means, Kakko has played strongly and also has done things that don't appear on the score sheet. Watch this clip below of the Rangers forward playing keep away in the critical moments of Game 5.
In 2018, the New York Rangers took Lias Andersson. They should have taken Marty Necas. The Carolina forward Had 40 points this season for the Canes and has a mere 3 assists in this playoff. He plays a lot on the second line with Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck, if the talented Czech gets going, this series can be over quickly.
The Rangers will win this series if: They match Carolina's physical play and win two road games. Clearly they'll have to win one to win the series, but Carolina travels well and will need at least two wins closer to Tobacco Road. They'll need to score more at 5-on-5.
The Hurricanes will win this series if: They shut down the Rangers stars and they can. Carolina could very well win every match-up as they boast all the players mentioned about and I still haven't gotten to Jordan Staal and former Rangers' great defensive forward Jesper Fast. Carolina has the 13th best Power play in the NHL (22%), but their PK is tops in the league at 88%. The Canes could frustrate the Rangers, force them into taking penalties and not feel a thing. If Raanta can duplicate his numbers from the first round, Carolina won't have to worry much.
Prediction: The New York Rangers were just in a knockdown, bloody nail biting series. Carolina went through the same thing. This series is more evenly matched than it looks on paper, but it's doubtful it'll be the home ice only wins like their Boston series. The center match-ups HEAVILY favor Carolina and that tips the scales for me. Carolina in 7.
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