Hurricanes at Rangers preview

HURRICANES (10-8-5) at RANGERS (13-10-2)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-CR, NHL.TV

McDonagh, the Rangers' captain, missed the past four games because of an abdominal strain and hasn't played since Nov. 19.
New York will be without center Mika Zibanejad (concussion) for the second straight game.
The Hurricanes are playing the first of 10 road games this month, including nine of their next 11. They will try to extend their point streak to three games (1-0-1). Carolina lost to New York, 6-1 at PNC Arena on Nov. 22.

Players to watch

Carolina defenseman Noah Hanifin has points in three straight games (two goals, two assists), including goals in two.
Rangers center David Desharnais had three assists playing in place of Zibanejad on the top line in New York's 5-4 loss to the Florida Panthers at home on Tuesday.

They said it

"I thought we'd be further ahead [at this point in the season], to be honest with you. You've got to plug away. There's lots of hockey left. You look in the standings and there are teams that have started to get a little bit of traction and created some separation, and there are some teams that are trying to find themselves a little bit too. We're probably in the middle of that." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"Always nice to have [McDonagh] back on the back end. He plays all facets, all situations of the game. We're obviously thrilled to have him back. He's someone who is going to instantly affect our team in a positive way." -- Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Victor Rask -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Derek Ryan -- Elias Lindholm
Joakim Nordstrom -- Marcus Kruger -- Brock McGinn
Jaccob Slavin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Noah Hanifin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Justin Faulk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched:Josh Jooris, Klas Dahlbeck
Injured: Lee Stempniak (lower body)

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- David Desharnais -- Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey -- Kevin Hayes -- Rick Nash
Michael Grabner -- J.T. Miller -- Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey -- Boo Nieves -- Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal -- Brendan Smith
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched:Steven Kampfer
Injured:Mika Zibanejad (concussion)

Status report

Lundqvist is expected to make his 14th consecutive start. … Carolina's defense pairs are different from previous games. Most notably, Slavin and Pesce, who have primarily played together this season, will be separated.

Stat pack

Lundqvist needs one win to tie Tony Esposito (Chicago Blackhawks) for the second-most wins in NHL history with one franchise (418). Martin Brodeur won 688 games with the New Jersey Devils.