A season-long road trip comes to a close as the Carolina Hurricanes take on the New York Islanders at the Barclays Centers.
The Carolina Hurricanes are 3-3-0 on their season-long seven game road trip. They have a shot to go above .500 with a win against the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Information
Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders
October 29, 2015 – 7:00 pm (EST)
Brooklyn, New York – Barclays Center
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Carolinas/99.9 FM The Fan, WRALSportsFan.com
Projected Lineups
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Islanders
Source: LeftWingLock.com
Preview
Fresh off of a 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes will look to finish the road trip on a high note as they battle the Islanders.
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It’s been a tale of two teams early on in the season for the Canes and Isles. Carolina enters Thursday’s action with a record 3-6-0. New York sports a record of 6-2-1 on the young season.
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The Islanders offense has been the key to their success so far this season. The club has netted 3.44 goals per game, led by their captain John Tavares. Tavares currently ranks tied for fifth in the NHL in total points with 11.
With a win on Thursday, the Islanders would leap frog their in-state rival Rangers for the 1st place spot in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes sit in 7th place in the division.
The Canes got a great performance out of goalie Cam Ward in Tuesday’s win over the Detroit Red Wings. He stopped 25 of 26 stops in route to his third win of the season. He is expected to get the start once again tonight.
A season ago, the Islanders won the season series over the Hurricanes three games to one. New York outscored Carolina 16-12 in four matchups.
Still struggling on the powerplay, the Carolina Hurricanes’ win in Detroit early this week was far from perfect. The club failed to strike on any of their three man advantages. They were effective on the penalty kill, however, killing off both Detroit opportunities on the power play. The Hurricanes have killed off 80% of their penalties this season, making them the 16th best penalty killing team in the NHL.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes still rank in the bottom third of the league in powerplay, goals per game and goals against per game.
In the areas that the Hurricanes struggle, the Islanders thrive. New York has the top ranked penalty kill in the league, the 5th ranked powerplay and the 4th ranked goal production per game.
The Isles have also gotten elite goaltending out of both Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss. Both goalies have 3 wins on the year and save percentages north of .930.
Cam Ward enters Thursday with a goals against average of 2.28, which is over 2.5 goals better than backup Eddie Lack.
Defenseman Justin Faulk leads the way in points for the Carolina Hurricanes with six. He also has scored all three powerplay goals this season for the team.
Canes center Jordan Staal remains without a point through nine games. He is the only player on the team to play in every game so far this season and not record a point.
A win in New York would be big for the Carolina Hurricanes. They will look to cap off the road trip with a confidence building game leading into a home game on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche.
These two teams won’t play each other again until February.