Rangers Vs. Hurricanes: Keys To The Game

The New York Rangers returned from Ottawa to play in front of their home crowd once again, and look for their sixth consecutive win. They are coming off a 3-2 win, after a strong performance by the GAS line. Hopefully that remains hot, and continues to put up the points.

Here are tonight's keys to the game.

Keep Up The Forecheck: This has been the key to success for the Rangers over the last five games, their forecheck. After failing to establish this in the first couple games, the Rangers went back to their old ways. Battling in the corner, and continuously cycling will put wear and tear on the opponents. As you noticed over the last few games as well, the defense is getting into the offense a little more, this is the main reason. They need to keep it up again tonight, and keep hounding the opponents defense.

Follow after the jump for more.

GAS Line Needs To Continue: The line of Marian Gaborik, Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan has been the best Rangers line thus far, hands down. They combined for all three goals last game in Ottawa, and need to continue their success. Derek Stepan has the uncanny ability to feed Gabby and Artie the puck, and they can both finish. Look for this line to get a lot of minutes tonight, which will give them numerous opportunities to convert.

Brandon Dubinsky Needs To Score: This was stressed by Joe in the last key's to the game post, but it needs to happen. We noticed it with Stepan, Anisimov, and Ryan Callahan, the first goal is huge. Dubinsky has had numerous chances but was unable to convert. After Dubinsky gets the first goal, it will take a ton of weight off of his back. It's not to say Dubinsky has been playing terrible, he's been doing everything else right, he just needs to find the back of the net. Tonight would be a perfect opportunity for him to get in front of the home crowd.