Time: 31 December, 2009 at 8:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: New York 4-3-3; Carolina 3-5-2
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who will make his 14th consecutive start, hasn’t allowed more than three goals in any game this month though the streak stayed intact largely because he was pulled after one period on Wednesday. … For Carolina, Staal has seven points in his last two games.Lundqvist has had his ups and downs at the RBCCenter, going 3-3-0 with a 2.66 GAA in his career. The Hurricanes are still at the bottom of the League defensively with an average of 3.56 goals against per game.
This is the second of four meetings between the Rangers and Hurricanes this season. New York won 3-1 at RBCCenter back on Dec. 21 thanks to goals from Marian Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal. The teams play again at MadisonSquareGarden on Saturday afternoon.
The Rangers cannot play any worse than they did in Wednesday’s 6-0 home loss to the Flyers, a game in which they were dominated from beginning to end. In contrast, the Hurricanes are coming off perhaps their best win of the season, a 6-3 victory at Washington in which Eric Staal had five points and the ‘Canes handled the division leaders for only their second road win of the season. Results and goal’s highlights, will be available soon..