Rangers at Hurricanes preview

RANGERS (10-9-2) at HURRICANES (9-6-4)
7 p.m. ET; MSG 2, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will make his 10th straight start for the Rangers, who enter Wednesday 7-2-0 in their past nine games.
Scott Darling will start for the Hurricanes, who have won two in a row and are 5-2-1 in the their past eight.

Players to watch

Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 23 games against Carolina.
Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen, the NHL's First Star of the Week, has five goals and five assists in his past four games.

They said it

"Here's an opportunity to play some more important minutes. I'm expecting our (defensive) group to step up and to be good defensively and to be good with the puck. I'm sure the guys are excited for the extra ice time that's available right now." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault on playing without defenseman Ryan McDonagh
"We've got to go get him, make it hard on him. It's no different than a lot of nights in our division. You've got to go get the goaltender, and that's by being at the net." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters on facing goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who has a 2.11 goals-against average in 37 games against Carolina

Rangers projected lineup

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

Hurricanes projected lineup

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

Status report

The Rangers did not hold a morning skate. … Desharnais will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row after playing in the Rangers' first 20 games. ... Rask will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row after playing in the Hurricanes' first 18 games.

Stat pack

Lundqvist is 25-11-1 with a .926 save percentage against Carolina since entering the NHL in 2005. Zibanejad has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 12 games. ... Aho has a four-game goal streak and has nine points (four goals, five assists) during that span.