RALEIGH — The Hurricanes come out of the All-Star break at 28-15-5 with 34 games in 71 days starting with Tuesday’s home game against the visiting Canucks.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said following Monday’s practice that the break had been a carrot he dangled as he urged his team to stay committed to his one-day-at-a-time mentality through the season’s first three-plus months.
So what’s the carrot now?
“Finish the race,” he said. “Finish the race.”
The race is for the Metropolitan Division. While many handed already draped a bed of roses over the Rangers after they started the season 24-8-1 — 49 points in 33 games through Dec. 27 while Carolina languished nine points back at 18-13-4 in 31 games — the race has now tightened.
Since that first post-Christmas game, New York is 7-8-2 following Monday’s come-from-behind overtime win over the visiting Avalanche. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were 10-2-1 in the lead-up to the All-Star Game, and the Rangers’ lead is down to four points with Carolina having two games in hand.
Chances are it’s a two-horse race for the division. Here’s how the schedules for the Rangers and Hurricanes stack up in the season’s final two months.
Head-to-head
The teams will meet one more time, in Raleigh on March 12, after splitting two games in New York earlier in the season. The Rangers won 2-1 on Nov. 2, getting a go-ahead goal from rookie William Cuylle in the third period in Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen’s last game before he was shelved with deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. Andersen resumed on-ice activities last week with goalie coach Paul Schonfelder.
The rematch two months later was a one-sided Hurricanes win, with Carolina using first period power play goals from Jack Drury and Andrei Svechnikov to take control en route to a 6-1 rout at Madison Square Garden.
Home vs. away
After their home win over Colorado on Monday, the Rangers play 18 of their 32 remaining games at MSG. That includes two three-game home stands — March 4-11 against the Panthers, Blues and Devils and the season-ending April 11-15 games against the Flyers, Islanders and Senators.
New York also has a pair of three-game road trips — visits to the Devils, Flyers and Blue Jackets later this month, and the game in Raleigh is the first of three in a row on the road that also includes visits to Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.
One note on the Rangers’ remaining schedule: One of the “road games” is the Stadium Series game on Feb. 18 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, that will count as a home game for the Islanders.
The Hurricanes have an even split the rest of the way, playing 17 of 34 at PNC Arena. The three straight home games coming out of the break conclude Carolina’s stretch of 10 of 11 at home, and the Hurricanes then have three more three-game home stands during the season.
Carolina has four multigame road trips the rest of the way — a trio of three-game trips and a season-ending four-game trip that takes the team to Boston, St. Louis, Chicago and Columbus over eight days.
Back-to-backs
The Rangers have just three sets of back-to-backs the rest of the season, one being coming to Carolina on March 12 a day after hosting New Jersey. New York is 3-6-0 in the first of consecutive games this season but an unbeaten 9-0-0 in the second game.
Carolina has five sets of back-to-back games remaining on its schedule, including two of them during five games in seven nights from March 16-22. On the season, the Hurricanes are 6-2-0 in the front end of back-to-back games and 4-2-2 on the tail end.
Degree of difficulty
The Rangers play 15 of their remaining 32 games against teams currently in playoff position, eight of which will be played at MSG. Six of their other 17 games are against the bottom of the league — for our purposes, that’s any of the eight teams with a points percentage below .500 through Monday’s games.
Carolina has 16 of 34 games against current playoff teams, 11 of which are at home starting with Tuesday’s visit from the Canucks. The Hurricanes also play 10 games against the bottom quarter of the league, including closing the season in Columbus on April 16 two days after playing the 32nd-place Blackhawks — one of two times Carolina will play Chicago down the stretch.
The Devils in the details
New Jersey hasn’t had the season it expected, with injuries and goaltending woes having the Devils on the outside looking in for the playoffs in early February. But one would be foolish to rule out New Jersey, and the Devils will have a role to play in the Metro either way.
The Rangers play the Devils three more times, once each month with two of the three in New York. In their one meeting this season, New York won at New Jersey 5-3 on Nov. 18. Carolina gets the Devils twice more — on Saturday for Whalers Night at PNC and in Newark on March 9. The Hurricanes beat New Jersey in their one meeting this season, a 3-2 win Jan. 25 in Raleigh.
