Carolina Hurricanes: Preview, Predictions vs Caps on Dec. 14

The Carolina Hurricanes hit the ice in Raleigh Friday night for the latter half of a back-to-back against the Metropolitan Division leaders, the Washington Capitals. The Hurricanes will look to bounce back from a heartbreaking 6-4 loss in Montreal Thursday night as they face the Caps in the first of four games against the reigning Stanley Cup champions this season.

Last night the Carolina Hurricanes dropped a real head-scratcher to the Canadiens. On a night where the Canes finally got some scoring output, the Habs seemingly had a quick, deflating answer whenever the momentum started to swing in the Canes direction.

Andrei Svechnikov continues to make his case to see top-six minutes by notching two goals, one of which was highlight-reel material. Coach Rod Brind’Amour might concur as the rookie’s 16:46 of ice time was good for the third-most amongst forwards. Canes fans likely want more, as the desire among the fanbase to see number 37 logging more minutes with Sebastian Aho seems to be growing by the day, with which I concur. Speaking of Aho, he netted a goal himself, with the other coming from star defenseman Jaccob Slavin. In a season where four goals would usually propel the Canes to victory, it just wasn’t enough against a relentless opposition.

Tonight, the Canes begin an absolutely pivotal stretch of five consecutive home games at PNC Arena, where they currently hold a 7-5-3 record. The end result of this home stretch will likely give fans a strong indication of whether the Carolina Hurricanes will be making a playoff push, or will instead be extending the NHL’s longest playoff drought.

There will be 10 points available for the Canes to grab at home, the first two starting tonight with the Washington Capitals. The defending Stanley Cup champions come to Raleigh riding a three-game win streak and sit atop the Metro with an 18-9-3 record, good for 39 points. Alex Ovechkin continues to boast his goal-scoring ability this season with a league leading 25 goals, six in the month of December alone. Washington is ranked as the 2nd highest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.7 a game. In order for the Canes to be successful tonight, the goaltending and defense will have to be better than it has been in the past two, where 10 goals have been surrendered. We may see Scott Darling in net tonight as Curtis McElhinney remains unlikely to feature, and Petr Mrazek played the first of the back-to-back. But then again, who knows what the hell is going on with our goaltending these days:

Carolina Hurricanes fans should focus on the special teams telling the tale on Friday night. The Caps have the 5th and 22nd ranked PP and PK, respectively. The Canes are coming off a stellar PK performance, killing all six of Montreal’s man advantages last night. Can the Canes get their PP going again? If they do, and continue killing penalties at a high rate, I like the Canes to carry some goal-scoring energy to PNC and win a 4-3 hockey game.

Prediction: Hurricanes 4-3 Capitals