How the New York Rangers could get exposed by the Carolina Hurricanes

While the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is yet to be completed, we do know one of the second-round matchups.

In the Metropolitan Division Final, the New York Rangers—the President’s Trophy winners—will face the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Rangers got to this point by sweeping the Washington Capitals in the first round, while the Hurricanes took down the New York Islanders in five games.

Though the Blueshirts played in the shortest series in Round 1, some of the underlying numbers showed that they did not outplay the Capitals like the results might have shown. That is a cause for concern as they get ready to face a Hurricanes team that kept up with the Rangers during the regular season.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, during The Coaches Room segment, Montreal Canadiens color commentator Jon Goyens joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to explain how the Hurricanes can expose the Rangers in this best-of-seven series with how they move the puck up the ice.

Jon Goyens: Can the Rangers really be dialed in on [stepping up in the neutral zone] in the 1-3-1, because if they are disjointed, Carolina will expose them. They did a better job of sitting way back in the 1-3-1, but what they have to be aware of is that they’re F1 and backside [forward], at times, there is a big gap right in the middle. If Carolina seeks to expose that, it can open up some space…If you simply want to beat them with a stretch pass, the Rangers get back, get five in the picture and box you to the outside.

You can watch the entire segment, and full episode here…