Rangers' Dryden Hunt controls the puck with the Hurricanes' Vincent Trocheck nearby during the second period of an NHL game in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday. Credit: AP/Karl B DeBlaker
RALEIGH, N.C. — For all his attempts to say the first meeting this season between his first-place Rangers and the second-place Carolina Hurricanes was just another game, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant admitted at Friday’s morning skate that, yes, he was a little excited to be facing the Hurricanes in a battle for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
"I am,’’ he said. "I mean, they're fun games. And I say every day I don't care who you get the two points from, it doesn't matter, but we haven't faced this team.