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Carolina Hurricanes Game Day Thoughts: Another Cup Winner Returns to Town

By Matthew Barlowe

Dec 23, 2016; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen (86) celebrates his game winning goal in the overtime against the Boston Bruins at PNC Arena. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in the overtime. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2016; Raleigh, NC, USA; Carolina Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen (86) celebrates his game winning goal in the overtime against the Boston Bruins at PNC Arena. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in the overtime. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes welcome back another member of the 2006 Stanley Cup winning team Peter Laviolette

It is another game in the Carolina Hurricanes homegrown series tonight against the Nashville Predators.  So far the series has been a smash success with both shirts and posters selling out quickly at all events.  Tonight features the work of Runaway for the t-shirt and the art of Gabriel Eng-Goetz for the poster.  Pictures of both can be found here.

The Hurricanes face their former coach, after having beaten their former captain last Thursday 3-1.  Laviolette has been the coach of the Nashville Predators for almost three seasons.  After the firing of Barry Trotz, the Predators picked Laviolette to take over and replace the only coach the franchise had ever seen.

So far this season, the Predators are 35-24-11 and three points above the last wild card spot.  Quite impressive given the team’s very slow start to the season with a 16-14-6 record.  But now the Predators are almost all but guaranteed a playoff spot in an incredibly weak western conference.

Related Story: Will Ryan Murphy be Exposed to Vegas?

Game Day Thoughts

  • Brock McGinn returns to the lineup tonight.   Would be nice to have Skinner lineup in the spot Peters put McGinn in but who knows.  Skinner and Ryan have found chemistry before so maybe they’ll be able to reconnect tonight.
  • Phil Di Giuseppe is also ready to return and Valentin Zykov is skating in a non-contact jersey. The idea of getting to watch more of Zykov this season is an exciting one.  The Russian is big and powerful and hopefully, can use his strength to score many more goals like this one.
  • With the return of McGinn and PDG there was no more room on the roster for Lucas Wallmark.  The Canes returned him to Charlotte yesterday.   Derek Ryan will take over at center in Wallmark’s place.  Not sure I agree with this move.  Wallmark’s play was solid the three games he was up and even had some nifty plays like this one.  Maybe the team thinks he needs more ice time to further work on something, but at least for those three games, Wallmark looked like a solid depth center.
  • Jay McClement is injured and is expected to be out for around two weeks.  While I never wish injury on anybody the fact that Jay McClement is finally out of the lineup is a cause for celebration.  The guy is awful at the game and can’t even win faceoffs anymore.  If the Canes resign him for next year I may finally give up on this franchise
  • Will the Carolina Hurricanes win tonight?  Well like I’ve said before they shouldn’t so they most likely will just to spite us.  Maybe Ron Francis is planning on bundling his top pick to someone for an NHL ready player so the lower it is the less loss of value.  Still, a higher up pick is worth more than a lower one.

Next: Giving Lack Credit

  • Eddie Lack getting the start tonight and he deserves it after his performance last game.  Maybe this will be the time where we see a backup goaltender finally take the reigns from Cam Ward.  Lack’s play other than that one game where he “couldn’t make a save” against Tampa Bay has been stellar.  In his last six starts, Lack’s save percentage has been .920.  Here’s hoping he can keep his play up.
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