3 Keys to the New York Rangers Winning Games 3 & 4 Against the Hurricanes – The Hockey Writers –

After winning Game 2 in double overtime, the New York Rangers have a 2-0 series lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in their second-round series and are two wins away from reaching the Eastern Conference Final. Now, the series shifts to Raleigh, North Carolina, for Games 3 and 4, which are now must-win games for the Hurricanes. They are going to bring their best and the Rangers are going to have to weather the storm.

Just like they did last series against the Washington Capitals, the Rangers have the chance to finish this series on the road. If they have any chance of doing this and getting past Carolina as quickly as possible, they need to continue to play their style of game and not let the Hurricanes overwhelm them. Here are three keys to victory for the Rangers if they want to win Games 3 and 4 on the road in Carolina.

Continued Special Teams Dominance

Through the first two games of this series, the Rangers have dominated on special teams while the Hurricanes just haven’t been able to figure it out, which is what has hurt them the most. They have gone 0-for-10 in these two games and have given up four power-play goals to the Rangers, including the double-overtime goal by former Hurricane, Vincent Trocheck with Brady Skjei in the box for cross-checking. Maybe Carolina being back home for the next two games will give them the spark they need on their special teams because if they can’t figure it out, the Rangers will have this series wrapped up in no time.

The Rangers, meanwhile need to continue what they have been doing on their special teams. On the power play, they have gotten goals from Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider. They have so many weapons on their top unit and they don’t stand still either; they are always moving and that is a strength for them because it gets the Hurricanes’ penalty killers out of position since they like to pressure the puck carrier. The Rangers need to stay lethal on their power play because it could ultimately decide who wins this series. The penalty kill has been fantastic and hasn’t given the Hurricanes much in this series; they also put the pressure on the puck carrier and it has worked for them all season long. If they can shut down Carolina’s top players…