Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Rangers Prediction: Hurricanes to win 8th time at home in a row

On May 31, 2022, 03:00 (UTC+3) the American city of Raleigh will host the Rangers in game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, where local Carolina will take on the Rangers at home at the PNC Arena.

Carolina has followed the same schedule for the second round in a row, winning exclusively in home games, while failing on the road. So far, this strategy is enough to qualify for the Eastern Conference Finals, as the Hurricanes have been seeded higher than their opponents both times, so the decisive seventh game will again be on their ice. Nevertheless, after the sixth game with the Rangers, the Red and Black may have concerns for the fate of the decisive battle, as in New York just the day before they had outscored their opponent considerably, 39-25, but they did not get anything out of this statistic, losing the game 2-5.

The Rangers already deserve a lot of credit this season for the progress they have made over the past year. If in the four previous championships they never managed to break into the main stage of the playoffs, now they not only made it, but also got to the seventh game of the second round, beating Pittsburgh in the first round. In their confrontation with the Penguins, Gerard Gallant's men constantly had to get back and now the same situation is repeated in their rivalry with Carolina as the Blueshirts first lost 0-2, then 2-3, but each time they always found the strength to get back into the game. The day before they evened the score in the series, winning 5-2.

The Rangers have pulled off a few mini-feats in the Stanley Cup, winning back-to-back meetings with Pittsburgh and Carolina, but now they need to make an even more significant step toward the Stanley Cup — beating the Hurricanes on their home ice, where they have not yet lost in the playoffs. There is a high probability that Gerard Gallant's players will not cope with this task. The Red and Blacks have been winning too many games on their home court. As a result, we have to bet on Carolina's win with the odds of about 2.15.

Key stats

• Carolina won all seven home games in the current playoffs;
• The Rangers lost in six of their last seven away games;
• Carolina beat the Rangers in six of the last seven head-to-head encounters on home ice.

Carolina and the Rangers are very stingy in terms of results. In their starting series, the Hurricanes and the Rangers spectacularly scored one goal after another, but in their head-to-head encounter, the defense is much more efficient than the offense. In the six previous matchups, we have seen only 24 goals (4.00 per game average), which is paltry by NHL standards. In the final game 7, we shouldn't expect any goal extravaganza, so betting on Total Under (4.5) at odds of nearly 2.30 seems like a great option.

Vincent Trocheck is one of the key players for Carolina this season. He has already scored a respectable 51 points (21 goals + 30 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and he has continued to be extremely productive in the playoffs. In 13 Cup games, the 28-year-old American tallied five more goals and four more assists, confirming his decent form. That being the case, it might be worth taking a closer look at Vincent Trocheck's Total Over (0.5) points at odds of around 1.90.

Our prediction: Carolina will win at odds of 2.15 at Bet365.

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