Preview: Rangers vs. Hurricanes

It's Hornets Night in Raleigh as the Carolina Hurricanes host the New York Rangers.
The Canes are coming off their most complete performance of the season in a 4-1 victory in Nashville on the Moms' Trip.
"I thought from the outset our mentality was good," said Justin Williams, who recorded two primary assists. "Sometimes you have a good sense of the dressing room and where it is. It's time to get this going in the right direction."

Bring Your Green Hat
Sebastian Aho netted his career-best 34th goal of the season in Nashville to extend his season-long point streak to 10 games (10g, 6a). In eight February games this season, Aho has tallied nine goals, ranking first in the NHL, and 13 points.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Andrei Svechnikov also netted his career-best 24th goal of the season in Nashville to extend his point streak to eight games (5g, 5a), a game shy of his career-best stretch from November. Svechnikov has totaled 55 points (24g, 31a) through 59 games this season and has recorded a point in 28 of the Canes' 34 wins.
Going Back-to-Back
Friday's game begins the Hurricanes' 10th of 16 back-to-back sets this season. Including this weekend, the Canes will play back-to-backs on seven straight weekends to close out the regular season - two Friday-Saturday sets in February followed by four Saturday-Sunday sets in March and a Friday-Saturday set in early April, all involving travel.

The Canes are 6-3-0 in the front half and 5-4-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
Gauthier in Blue
On Tuesday, the Hurricanes acquired defensive prospect Joey Keane from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Julien Gauthier, who made his NHL debut in October and played in five games for the Canes this season.
Gauthier made his Rangers debut in Chicago on Wednesday and recorded a shot on goal in 7:18 of ice time. He now returns to Raleigh to face the team that drafted him 21st overall in 2016.
"He's a big guy who can skate. He has all the tools. I think it was just a matter of time before he played," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said after practice on Thursday. "It was just, you look at our group - where would he fit and whereabouts would he go in our lineup? I think that's what the issue was all along."
The Last Meeting
The Hurricanes are 0-3-0 against the Rangers this season and fell, 5-3, at Madison Square Garden
in the last meeting on Dec. 27
. The Rangers scored four straight goals to grab a 4-1 lead, and though the Canes rallied to get within a goal, they couldn't sneak the equalizer past Henrik Lundqvist, who made 39 saves on 42 shots.

"Lundqvist always plays pretty solid against us. I feel like we had really good chances tonight. I think, for the most part, we played a pretty good game," Jaccob Slavin said after the game. "But, there were little turnovers we had, little lapses we had that ended up costing us the game."
The Opposition
The Rangers doubled up the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-3, in the first game of their Moms Trip on Wednesday. New York tallied five goals in the third period to win their sixth straight on the road and their fifth in their last six games overall. Artemi Panarin leads the team in goals (30), assists (49) and points (79).
WORTH A CLICK
News
Podcast
Videos
Gameday Links
WATCH, LISTEN & STREAM
Watch: FOX Sports Carolinas,
FOX Sports GO
Listen: 99.9 The Fan,
Hurricanes app