Carolina Hurricanes Battle Nashville Predators in Regular Season Opener
By Brett Finger
The wait is over. The Carolina Hurricanes’ offseason has come to a close, and they will take on the Nashville Predators in Thursday’s opening night matchup.
After a long offseason full of rumors, acquisitions, and a lot of built up optimism, the Carolina Hurricanes hit the ice for their regular season opener against the Nashville Predators
Information
Carolina Hurricanes vs Nashville Predators
October 8, 2015 – 8:00 pm (EST)
Nashville, Tennessee
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Carolinas/99.9 FM The Fan and WRALSportsFan.com
Projected Lineups
Carolina Hurricanes
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Nashville Predators
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Preview
It has been a long summer, but it is finally that time of year again. The Carolina Hurricanes and all 29 other NHL teams are prepped and ready for another season of hockey, and for the Canes and Preds, it starts tonight.
The Carolina Hurricanes will ice an updated lineup after the additions of 2015 5th overall draft pick Noah Hanifin and trade acquisitions Kris Versteeg, Joakim Nordstrom, and Eddie Lack.
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Cam Ward is the confirmed starter for Carolina for the opening night bout. Eddie Lack will serve as the backup and could get his first start on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.
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The Canes have practiced with the lineup above all week in Raleigh, so the players are familiar with their linemates and they should all be ready to go.
All eyes will be on the youth. Jeff Skinner, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, and Justin Faulk, all of whom are under the age of 24, will catch all the attention from Canes fans watching back at home.
On Wednesday, the Hurricanes announced that young blue-liner Justin Faulk will serve as an alternate captain this season, which is an honor that he absolutely deserves. He is one of the best up and coming NHL defensemen, and so is Predators gem Roman Josi.
Josi will be a player to watch on the enemy side. The Swiss blue-liner finished 5th in Norris Trophy voting last season, and when captain Shea Weber went down with injury around playoff time, he took the reigns and led an impressive Predators blue line to a competitive six game series with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Carolina Hurricanes
Josi will be featured on the club’s top defensive pairing with Weber, which means that they will likely see over 25:00 of ice time, and a lot of it will come against the Canes top forward line. The interesting thing, however, is how the lineup is spread out for Carolina.
Each of the top three forward lines for the Canes on Thursday will feature notable offensive players. Line one will have Eric Staal, Elias Lindholm and Kris Versteeg, line two will have Jordan Staal and Nathan Gerbe flanked by Riley Nash, and line three has potential to be very dangerous with Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, and Chris Terry.
The matchups will be an important thing to watch between these two clubs on opening night.
The Predators will start their world-class goalie Pekka Rinne who is coming off of a fantastic season, logging a .923 save percentage and 2.18 goals against average.
The wait is over, and the Carolina Hurricanes look to kick off their promising 2015-2016 season with a big opening night win in Nashville, Tennessee.
Next: Three Not-So Bold Predictions for the Hurricanes This Season