Carolina @ New York preview
Madison Square Garden
Last Meeting ( Nov 2, 2023 ) Carolina 1, NY Rangers 2
Last spring when the New York Rangers lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils, Artemi Panarin produced a quiet showing in the seven-game series.
Now Panarin's stellar start to the season is among the reasons for the Rangers sitting atop the NHL standings heading into Tuesday's visit from the Carolina Hurricanes.
Panarin produced 92 points last season while appearing in every regular-season game as the Rangers won 47 games, finishing six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. Then he did not score a goal and collected just two assists against the Devils. A year earlier, Panarin totaled six goals and 16 points in New York's run to the Eastern Conference finals.
Through their first 35 games this season, the Rangers own a league-best 25 wins, 51 points and .729 points percentage. New York is 7-3-0 over its past 10 games, and Panarin has seven goals and 13 points in that span.
Three occurred Saturday when Panarin scored New York's first goal and its final two goals of a 5-1 rout at Tampa Bay, which occurred a night after a 4-3 loss at Florida. It raised Panarin's team-leading season total to 23 goals and 50 points -- 13 points ahead of Mika Zibanejad, who has eight goals and 17 points in a career-best 10-game points streak.
"It seems like (Panarin) somehow continues to get better," said New York's Vincent Trocheck, who produced his third career four-point game Saturday. "And he's taking more and more steps forward, which is kind of crazy to think. He's obviously an outstanding hockey player, one of the best in the league."
Panarin's second hat trick of the season moved him into a tie for fourth with Florida's Sam Reinhart in goals, and he is tied for third with Boston's David Pastrnak in points.
Carolina is looking to shave two points of its seven-point deficit to the Rangers in the division standings after taking a 2-1 loss in New York on Nov. 2. The Hurricanes have scored 13 goals in their second three-game winning streak this season and are 6-1-3 in their past 10 games.
Carolina has not trailed during its winning streak and kept it going with a 3-2 win at Toronto on Saturday. Michael Bunting and Seth Jarvis scored power-play goals before Sebastian Aho netted his team-leading 15th goal.
"We're just really desperate right now," Jarvis said. "We know how tight our division is, and we know how everything can change so quickly. We don't want to be outside looking in come playoff time, so we're just trying to get as many points as we can right now and make sure we give ourselves the best chance possible."
Carolina also continued to get good performances from a power-play that is now converting at 26.6 percent. (The Rangers are best in the league at 30.9 percent.) The Hurricanes are 8-for-17 on the man advantage in their past four games and 15-for-36 in their past 10 contests.
Aho has seven goals and 13 assists in his past 10 games, including three goals and nine assists in a modest four-game points streak.
"You look at all the good times, and their top guys need to be their top guys," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Aho. "He's starting to emerge and he's getting on the scoresheet every night. That's what all the top guys do."
--Field Level Media