Carolina Hurricanes Take on the Florida Panthers on Thanksgiving Eve
By Brett Finger
Information
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers
November 26, 2014 – 7:30 pm (ET)
BB&T Center – Sunrise, Florida
TV – Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio – 99.9 FM The Fan
Numbers to Know
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Projected Lineups
Carolina Hurricanes
FORWARDS
Jiri Tlusty – Eric Staal – Alexander Semin
Nathan Gerbe – Riley Nash – Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner – Victor Rask – Andrej Nestrasil
Zach Boychuk – Jay McClement – Patrick Dwyer
DEFENSE
John-Michael Liles – Tim Gleason
GOALIES
Injuries and Scratches: Brad Malone (Healthy), Jay Harrison (Healthy), Chris Terry (Conditioning Stint), Brett Bellemore (IR/Lower-Body), Jordan Staal (IR/Broken Fibula)
Florida Panthers
FORWARDS
Jonathan Huberdeau – Nick Bjugstad – Brandon Pirri
Sean Bergenheim – Aleksander Barkov – Brad Boyes
Jussi Jokinen – Vincent Trocheck – Jimmy Hayes
Tomas Fleischmann – Tomas Kopecky – Shawn Thornton
DEFENSE
Willie Mitchell – Dmitry Kulikov
GOALIES
Injuries and Scratches: Dylan Olsen (Healthy), Derek MacKenzie (Healthy), Scottie Upshall (Healthy), Dave Bolland (IR/Groin)
Preview
The Carolina Hurricanes take a 2-game losing streak into Sunrise, Florida on Wednesday to take on the Florida Panthers.
This Thanksgiving Eve game for the Hurricanes will be a big one. The club has lost two straight games, including one in heart-breaking fashion against the Avs on Saturday. They blew a 3-1 lead against in Colorado over the weekend.
The Canes returned home to practice in Raleigh on Sunday and Monday, but now they are back on the road 3 days after their last game on Saturday.
“We always looked at it as two separate trips. We went on a three-gamer, and now we have a quick, two-game business trip, so it will be good to get back out playing,” head coach Bill Peters said. “It’s a real good test for us. We’re as healthy as we have been in a long time, so there is no reason not to play well. They’re important points.”
In the wake of Brett Bellemore’s name being added to the IR list, the Hurricanes recalled defenseman Michal Jordan on Tuesday. Wednesday will be a big day for the 25-year-old Czech defenseman, and Bill Peters re enforced that on Tuesday.
“We’ve got to find out if Michal Jordan can play at this level,” Peters said. “The only way to do that is put him in and play him in the situations he’s used to playing in: on the right side and on the power play.”
The Canes also sent Chris Terry down to Charlotte for a conditioning stint on Tuesday.
Jussi Jokinen is a very familiar name for most in Raleigh. The 31-year-old Finn leads Florida in points with 12 on the year, all of which have come in his last 14 games after starting the season with 0 points in his first 5 games.
Reigning 1st overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad is tied for 2nd on the Panthers in points with 11. He leads all Florida defensemen in that category and has 9 points in his last 11 games while averaging 22:26 of ice time per game over that span.
Two veterans are expected to be in net on Wednesday. Cam Ward will likely get his 11th start of November for Carolina. Across from Ward will likely be Roberto Luongo, who has quietly been putting up impressive numbers in Florida with a .926 save percentage and a 2.4 goals against average.
Eric Staal (3 goals, 2 assists), Jeff Skinner (2 goals, 3 assists), and Nathan Gerbe (1 goal, 2 assists) all carry 3-game point streaks entering Wednesday’s action for the Hurricanes.
Both teams are coming off losses. The Canes fell to the Avs by a score of 4-3 on Saturday, and the Wild defeated the Panthers 4-1 on Monday.
The Carolina Hurricanes swept their 3-game season series against the Panthers last season by final scores of 3-2, 5-1, and 3-0.
It’s Thanksgiving Eve, so let’s hope the Canes can give us something to be thankful for going into Turkey Day.