Carolina Hurricanes: Need to get back to .500 hockey

The Carolina Hurricanes are back in a familiar spot, trying to crawl back to .500 and remain relevant in the playoff hunt. They will do so against the New Jersey Devils for an early afternoon matinee game.

The Carolina Hurricanes remain in the northeast for the second of their two game road trip north of Virginia as they take on the New Jersey Devils for the second time this season. It will be the first of the two games they play in Prudential Arena in Newark this year. Carolina is hoping to return home for the Flyers game for New Year’s Eve with a win under their belts.

I expect the roster to be pretty much the same as the one that went into Washington. Martin Necas is in British Columbia with the Czech national team for the World Juniors. And although there are rumblings of serious movement about to happen within the league, the only real addition that we might to the Carolina Hurricanes roster is the possible addition of Haydn Fleury, who was seen skating with the team during practice.

There might be some changes within the lineup however, as coach Rod Brind’Amour attempts to find more goals from the team. Micheal Ferland might be reunited with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. This was the combination that generated the Canes’ lone goal on Thursday night in Washington. That might, one hopes, translate into the kind of play we saw at the beginning of the season, as Ferland seems to be back to full game speed:

A win today is critical for the Carolina Hurricanes, who would like to finish the year above the .500 mark. The last game against the Devils was also played at an odd time and was won off a pair of goals that took less than a minute. That ended up being the only ones needed and the only ones scored by Carolina who took a 2-1 win. The effort today needs to be more than that. And it has to start on the powerplay. The penalty kill, despite being shorthanded, has generated more goals and points over the last several games than the team has with the man advantage.

The Devils are about as consistent as the Carolina Hurricanes. Their last three games included a 5-2 thrashing of the Senators, followed by being shut out by the Blue Jackets, and another 5-2 win over the Bruins on Thursday. Keith Kinkaid was pulled out against the Blue Jackets for 22 yr old MacKenzie Blackwood, after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Blackwood was in net against the Bruins. Kinkaid, however, has historically played well against the Hurricanes and I would expect him to play for New Jersey unless they keep the hot hand in Blackwood.

Taylor Hall will miss the game as he continues to nurse his lower body injury. Marcus Johansson (upper body) and rookie Joey Anderson (broken ankle) will also miss the game. It’s almost a shame that Cory Schneider, who started the last game against Carolina, will remain sidelined. It’s now been well over a year since he has registered a victory. Even Scott Darling isn’t that bad.

The Carolina Hurricanes need to take full advantage of these injuries while finding new and exciting ways to do the simple task of putting the biscuit in the basket. There has to be some more pressure around the need to score and score a lot. That comes from keeping the puck in the offensive zone and out of the defensive zone. That will help whoever the Canes put between the pipes. I expect Petr Mrazek again after another excellent showing in DC, but it could very well be Curtis McElhinney.

Prediction: Carolina 4 – 2 New Jersey

Question for CC Readers: 

If the Canes lose this game, is the Tank for Jack Hughes fully on?