Igor Shesterkin and Frederik Andersen have both been looking good lately for their respective clubs, will goaltending be the difference in tonight's matchup?
In his last three starts, Igor Shesterkin is 3-0-0 with a 1.92 GAA and a .932 SV%.
Shesterkin has gotten in a groove and appears to be at the top of his game, but slowing down the Carolina Hurricanes won't be an easy task.
Shesterkin played in three of the four contests last year against the Hurricanes.
He earned a 2-1-0 record in those contests while skating to a 2.37 GAA and a .924 SV%. In the game he lost, Shesterkin made 36 saves on 39 shots.
Shesterkin's Career vs. Hurricanes: 3-3-0 with a 2.72 GAA and a .912 SV%.
Hurricanes Projected Lineup, Per Ryan Henkel:
Svechnikov- Aho - Jarvis
Bunting - Kotkaniemi - Teravainen
Martinook - Staal - Fast
Noesen - Drury - Necas
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - DeAngelo
Orlov - Chatfield
Andersen
Frederik Andersen is 2-0-0 in his last three games...yup, you read that right.
He only played 5 minutes against the San Jose Sharks, but he picked up wins against the Seattle Kraken and the Philadelphia Flyers. In those three games, Andersen skated to a 2.30 GAA and a .911 SV%.
Andersen is 4-0-0 this season, but his numbers haven't been as strong as his record. Andersen is skating to a .888 SV% and a 3.06 GAA on the season.
Andersen's Career vs. Rangers: 9-5-3 with a 2.84 GAA and a .903 SV%.
Rangers Projected Lineup:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Chytil-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Trocheck-Wheeler
Goodrow-Bonino-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Gustafsson-Schneider
Shesterkin
My colleague, Matt Mugno asked Peter Laviolette about if this game against the Hurricanes is a benchmark for the group right now.
Laviolette's thoughts:
"Every game is so important, but then I do think there are games inside of your division that have an added extra weight to it. They've won the division for the last three years, so yeah I think that this is a game you could look at and say this is a team we've got to beat. If we were playing someone that was in the Western Conference today I wouldn't change an approach or I wouldn't change a mindset because as I stated, things can turn quickly. I think because it's a division game, it's Carolina, they've been a team in the regular that's come out on top in the division. I think our guys are excited about that and I think it's a good one to come off of the road trip too. It grabs your attention right away, so that's a good thing as well.