New York @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 27, 2019 ) Carolina 3, NY Rangers 5

Although the Carolina Hurricanes are holding down one of the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference, the race could not be any tighter with teams changing places on a nightly basis. The Hurricanes will face one of the teams chasing them and perhaps their biggest nemesis when the resurgent New York Rangers pay a visit to Carolina on Friday night.

The Hurricanes have dropped all three meetings to New York this season but they improved to 4-1-1 over their past six games with a 4-1 win in Nashville on Tuesday night. "The stage is set for the last 20 games to have a race. We've just got to win our games," forward Justin Williams said. "I don't care that we're in the best division in hockey with the most points. Just win our games, and we'll be fine." The Rangers have won five of six overall and six straight on the road while dominating the series with Carolina, going 30-6-0 against the Hurricanes over the past nine years. "Our guys are excited about the game Friday night because it's going to be a playoff-type game for us in a lot of ways," coach David Quinn said after New York erupted for five third-period goals in Wednesday's 6-3 victory at Chicago.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: MSG2, FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE RANGERS (31-24-4): Henrik Lundqvist has been an afterthought in New York's three-goaltender rotation, last starting a game on Feb. 3, but Quinn may be tempted to take him out of mothballs given his record against Carolina. Lundqvist has been in net for all three starts versus the Hurricanes this season and turned aside 145 of a staggering 152 shots, giving him 24 wins in the last 28 appearances in the series. Mika Zibanejad had four points against Chicago to give him eight goals and nine assists since the All-Star break.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (34-21-4): Sebastian Aho continued his goal-scoring binge with his 10th in nine games since the All-Star break to push his career-best total to 34 and extend his point streak to 10 games. Andrei Svechnikov is on a tear of his own, joining Ron Francis (1982-83) as the only teenagers in franchise history with multiple point streaks of at least eight games, collecting five goals and as many assists during his current run. Meanwhile, captain Jordan Staal broke out of his funk, ending an 11-game goal drought at Nashville.

OVERTIME

1. Rangers F Artemi Panarin reached 30 goals for the third time in five seasons to stretch his point streak to seven games.

2. The Hurricanes are 1-for-12 on the power play against New York this season.

3. Rangers F Chris Kreider scored his 12th goal in 18 games Wednesday and has 11 in 26 meetings versus Carolina.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 4, Rangers 3