New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes Game 2 Prediction, NHL Odds
The Carolina Hurricanes look for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Rangers on Friday. The Canes are -175 home favourites to win on the NHL odds.
Rangers vs. Hurricanes NHL Betting Odds
Carolina rallied for a 2-1 overtime win in the opener vs. New York, and teams that take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-seven series at home hold a series record of 347-115 all-time, including 3-1 in the first round this year. The Hurricanes are 7-5 in a best-of-seven series all-time after taking a 1-0 lead and 6-1 when starting at home. They did take a 1-0 lead at home last round vs. Boston. The Rangers are 11-29 in a best-of-seven when trailing 1-0 and 6-26 when starting on the road. New York lost Game 1 of the first round at home to Pittsburgh.
On the updated series line, the Hurricanes are -370 (were -227) and Rangers +283 (were +170). On the leader after three games special, Carolina is -588 and New York +407. The favoured exact series result, Hurricanes in five, leads at +260 (was +351) followed by Canes in six at +375 (was +401). All four Carolina series wins are priced cheaper than any New York series win. That the series finishes in six games is a +224 favourite, with a sweep the +398 long shot.
The Rangers are 1-4 in their past five at Carolina.
New York Rangers
The Rangers had every chance to steal Game 1. Filip Chytil’s second goal of the playoffs gave the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead at 7:07 of the first and that stood until New York allowed the tying goal late in the third and then lost early in overtime. Still, a fairly positive sign that likely Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin played better than he did in Round 1, although the Russian faced only 25 shots. He was looking to become the second Rangers goaltender in the past 24 years to post a playoff win streak of at least four games. Former Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Adam Fox had his seven-game points streak snapped. New York is now 172-93-3 all-time when scoring first in the postseason and 2-3 this year. The Rangers are 0-4 in their past four as underdogs.
Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina had been 32-65 in its playoff history when allowing the first goal and 0-1 this year. Sebastian Aho’s third goal of this postseason tied Game 1 at 17:37 of the third and Ian Cole’s first at 3:12 of OT was the winner. Cole, who had just two regular-season goals in 75 games, became the third defenceman in Hurricanes/Whalers history to score an OT goal in the postseason and the third NHL blueliner to do so in these playoffs. It was only Cole’s second career playoff goal in 104 games. Aho’s goal was his 17th career in the postseason, tying for third-most in franchise history. It was the latest tying goal for Carolina in a playoff game since Game 7 of the 2009 conference quarterfinals. Former Rangers netminder Antti Raanta stopped 27 of 28 shots. The Hurricanes are 9-3 in their past 12 vs. the Eastern Conference.
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