Hurricanes-Rangers series has different feel for Carolina with rare playoff road start

The Carolina Hurricanes have been able to settle into a comfortable groove in the Stanley Cup playoffs the past few years.

The first two games of a playoff series have been played at home. PNC Arena roared. “Make Them Hear You” would appear on the scoreboard before the Canes took the ice just before the games, and Canes fans did that.

The New York Rangers changed that this year.

The Rangers, not the Hurricanes, won the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers, not the Canes, are the top seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers are the ones hosting the first two games of the second-round series with Carolina, presenting a different challenge for the Canes.

The Rangers had the best record in the league, winning the Presidents’ Trophy. The Canes had the NHL’s third-best record. Under the NHL’s playoff setup, they must play now, not later.

Game 1 is Sunday in Madison Square Garden. Game time: 4 p.m.

“It’s a tough building to play in, too,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said Friday.

Too tough for Carolina in the 2022 playoffs, the last time the two teams faced off in the postseason. The Canes lost all three games at the Garden in their second-round series, losing their focus and at times their poise as the Rangers surged to victories and eventually decided the series with a Game 7 win in Raleigh.

“It’s a big challenge,” Staal said. “We know we’re going to go through some ups and downs up there and we have to find a way to stay as even keel as we can. And dummy down our game even more, and be more simple.

“Just find ways to sneak out a win.”

The Rangers finished with 114 points in the 2023-24 regular season, winning 55 games. The Canes, the Metro winners the past two seasons, had 111 points and 52 wins in closing in second place.

New York was 30-11-0 at the Garden, the only NHL team to win 30 games at home. One of the 11 losses: a 6-1 beating by the Hurricanes on Jan. 2, Carolina’s last trip to the Garden, when Andrei Svechnikov scored twice, the Canes had two power-play goals and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov was the winner. The Canes did not “sneak out a win” that time.

But that was then.

The Rangers opened the playoffs by sweeping the Washington Capitals while the Canes won in five games over the New York Islanders. The Canes-Isles series had a “same old/same old” feel to it but the Rangers easily wiped away the last vestiges of their shocking first-round loss to the New Jersey Devils last year.

“They’re the best team in the league this year,” Staal said. “Obviously, a very complete team and there’s not a lot of holes. They have great skill, they have a great power play. They will make you pay if you make any turnovers or any little plays that they’re on top of.

“It can happen quick. You have to make sure every single little play is done right. And obviously, play our style and wear them down and make them play defense.”

The Canes and Rangers were second and third in the NHL, respectively, in power-play percentage this year — Carolina at 26.9% and New York at 26.4%. The Hurricanes were the league’s best penalty-killing team at 86.4% and New York third at 84.5%.

Something has to give there. And as Canes center Sebastian Aho said, “Special teams decide playoff games.”

During the season, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour downplayed — although did not dismiss — the importance of gaining home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Just play hard, get to the playoffs and go from there — that was his opinion.

Case in point: the Florida Panthers in 2022-23.

The Panthers were the second wild-card team in the playoffs last season. They began each playoff series on the road, knocking off the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs to reach the Eastern Conference final against Carolina.

And then won the first two games in Raleigh. The first was the classic four-overtime marathon. The second also went to overtime before the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk again won it, then quickly ushered his teammates off the ice — almost dismissively to dejected Canes fans leaving the building.

The Panthers won the next two games in Florida and that was that — a sweep.

The Hurricanes stocked up this season, dealing for forwards Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov, both former Stanley Cup winners, at the trade deadline. Defenseman Brett Pesce, injured in Game 2 against the Islanders, could return at some point in the Rangers series to bring the team back to full strength.

Guentzel, who won his Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017, loves the playoffs and it shows in his playoff numbers — 35 goals and 62 points in 63 career games.

Guentzel, playing with Aho and Svechnikov on the Canes’ top line, had a goal and three assists in the Islanders series, calling his play “all right.”

“It can get a little better,” he said. “But it’s the time of year when all you want to do is win and you’ve just got to make sure you move on.

“It’s a new challenge now. Hopefully I’ll be better in this one.”