Hurricanes at Rangers preview

HURRICANES (30-27-11) at RANGERS (30-32-7)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Hurricanes, fifth in the Metropolitan Division, are six points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets (who host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday) for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East. They have been off since defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at United Center on Thursday.
The Rangers have lost their past three games, including 4-3 in a shootout at the Florida Panthers on Saturday, after winning three in a row and getting points in four straight from Feb. 25-March 3 (3-0-1). They have lost their past four home games (0-3-1) since defeating the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Feb. 9.
Rookie goalie Alexander Georgiev will make his fourth start and fifth appearance since Feb. 22. He is 1-2-0 with a 2.65 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Justin Williams has six points, including four goals, in five games since March 1.
Rangers forward Ryan Spooner has five points (one goal, four assists) in the past two games and 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in seven games since being acquired in a trade from the Boston Bruins on Feb. 25.

They said it

"Got to win. That's all it is. You got to win. You can't worry about anything else other than nights that you play you've got to get two points." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"[Georgiev] is a battler. Every time he's in net he battles, and I like his positioning. He likes to challenge shooters, but he's got good rebound control. In the three games that we've [started] him, he's battled and that's what you want from your goalies."-- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Elias Lindholm -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched:Haydn Fleury, Valentin Zykov
Injured: none

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jesper Fast
Ryan Spooner -- Kevin Hayes -- Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Pavel Buchnevich
Cody McLeod -- Peter Holland -- Paul Carey
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Brady Skjei -- Tony DeAngelo
John Gilmour -- Rob O'Gara
Alexander Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: none
Injured: David Desharnais (kidney stones), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), Ondrej Pavelec (sprained MCL), Steven Kampfer (fractured hand)

Status report

Desharnais will be a game-time decision, Vigneault said. He participated in the morning skate.

Stat pack

The Rangers have won 14 consecutive home games against the Hurricanes dating to Jan. 5, 2011. They are 23-4-0 overall against Carolina since Feb. 22, 2011, including 2-0-0 this season.