The Carolina Hurricanes (35-15-6) are visiting “The City That Never Sleeps” and will do battle with the New York Rangers (22-28-6) Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

This is the last game for Carolina before the long Olympic break. They will not be back in action until February 26.

Advertisement

The club was involved in some drama yesterday as they were reportedly in the mix to acquire Artemi Panarin from the Rangers via trade.

Late Tuesday night it was rumored that the Hurricanes and Panarin were close to inking a deal, but that all turned sour on Wednesday.

NHL “insiders” were reporting all kinds of nonsense during the day, leading up until the deadline at 3 P.M.

Panarin wanted to live in a “no tax” state, he wanted a minimum of $50 million on a contract extension, he wanted to play for a Cup contender, yadda yadda yadda and it turned out that none of that was true as he was traded to and then signed with the Los Angeles Kings.

Advertisement

The most amusing thing? Afterward, it was reported that was where he wanted to go all along, there was no other place.

So he went to a high tax state, signed for $22 million instead of $50, and is not necessarily playing for a Cup contender. Funny stuff.

Back to tonight’s game!

The Hurricanes have earned points in 14 of their last 15 games. They are comfortably eight points ahead of their closest competition in their Division. They are riding a red hot goalie.

Speaking of the red hot goalie, Brandon Bussi will be back between the pipes tonight. (Now confirmed) Bussi is 22-3-1 so far this season and has looked good while accumulating that record.

Advertisement

Fred Andersen will rest up for his gig in the Olympics.

I would look for the same lines that Carolina has utilized in recent games:

Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis

Hall- Stankoven – Blake

Ehlers – Staal – Martinook

Kotkaniemi – Jankowski – Carrier

Slavin – Chatfield

Walker – Miller

Nikishin – Gostisbehere

The Rangers are a mess and currently sit in last place in the Conference. Keep an eye on Vincent Trocheck. Should the Canes try to pick him up when trading commences?

The game will be broadcast by the FanDuel Sports Network and we will have the normal crew working the game.

Puck drop – 7 P.M.

UPDATES

You may want to check out –

Also –