Carolina Hurricanes host the New York Rangers
Another one of the important games of Tuesday will be the Carolina Hurricanes playing host to the New York Rangers. This will be the fourth and the final meeting the two sides during the course of the current season.
The last three meetings have seen the Hurricanes winning the first and third games while the Rangers won the second game in overtime 2-1 on the 5th of January 2011. The last game between the two sides saw the Hurricanes come up with a dominating
performance that saw them winning the game 4-1 in the end.
This past Sunday, the Rangers came across a lot of problems during the game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only did they lose the game 4-2 but they lost Marian Goborik due to injury. Gaborik was vital player in the team and his absence would surely
hurt the Rangers.
Gaborik has been one of the most productive players in the Rangers roster and has scored 17 goals during the course of the season. He has come up with 21 assists which make him one of the best wingers during the current season.
"I don't know when it happened, and I don't know how it happened," Rangers coach John Tortorella said of Gaborik's injury.
The Rangers had emerged very strong at the start of the season and maintained the run during the middle part of the season. However, as the end of the season nears and talks about the play-offs starts the Rangers have seen a great drop in their form. They
have only won two games out of their last 10 games.
From a strong position in the league they have fallen to the seventh position and are only six points ahead of the ninth placed team, Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference. "My belief in the team is getting stronger," Tortorella said. "It is about results
and it is about winning, but we're doing the right things. We just haven't been able to do that (win games) consistently, especially the second half of the year."
The Rangers have played 61 games in the season so far out which they have won 31 games in regulation time, scored a point in four games piling a total of 66 points. The Hurricanes on the other hand have played 60 games out which they have managed to score
64 points winning 28 games in regulation time and scoring a point in eight games.
The Hurricanes were going through a good three games winning streak which was snapped by the New Jersey Devils this Saturday as they won 4-1. The Hurricanes like the Rangers aren’t playing the best hockey but the team and the coach are hopeful for a good
performance from the team ahead of the upcoming games.
"We liked our three games against the Rangers this year," Paul Maurice said. "The first one was a goaltending festival, and the other two have been really hard-fought, hard-grinding games."
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