The Carolina Hurricanes face the Ottawa Senators tonight in another must-win game, as they vie for a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. New acquisition Nino Niederreiter is expected to make his Canes debut as the team looks to rebound from a crushing loss last time out.
In all of the excitement surrounding the acquisition of Nino Niederreiter, it may have temporarily escaped the notice of Carolina Hurricanes fans that the team was spanked 6-2 by the New York Rangers in their last game. Tonight sees the Canes return to the ice, hopefully desperate to prove a point but almost certainly more dangerous thanks to the inbound talents of the aforementioned Swiss superstar.
Where Nino Niederreiter fits in on this Carolina Hurricanes team remains to be seen – and it may be several weeks before we find out who he has the most chemistry with. For now, I would expect to see El Nino line up on the second line, alongside Lucas Wallmark and Brock McGinn; there is a possibility that Clark Bishop returns to the lineup tonight, meaning that Bishop could also center Nino.
We’ll know where Nino fits in for now closer to puck drop but one thing is for sure: Niederreiter will receive a good amount of power play time, and should improve the second unit immeasurably. When we looked yesterday at how to fix the power play, the one option we didn’t consider was bringing in expertise via trade – but this looks to be a huge win for Coach Rod.
Petr Mrazek will get the start in net tonight, with Curtis McElhinney struggling with an injury. It was Mrazek’s turn to play anyway, and so the callup of Alex Nedeljkovic was a surprise – Scott Darling was the expected callup for a non-playing backup spot. Does this mean that McElhinney may miss more than just the one game? Hopefully not as, that drubbing by the Rangers aside, he’s been stellar all season long.
Curtis McElhinney dealing with a lower-body injury. https://t.co/ktvFQVbziN
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) January 17, 2019
Let’s not forget the recent contributions by Saku Maenalanen either. The Finn, an under-the-radar free agent acquisition in the off-season, has scored four goals and an assist in nine NHL games to begin his career, and looks like he has exceptional puck control. His Corsi isn’t great, but now that he isn’t playing with Victor Rask, we might see even more from him. All eyes will be on Niederreiter, Micheal Ferland and Sebastian Aho, but Maenalanen is the form scorer on this team. Let’s hope for more of the same from the Carolina Hurricanes’ unexpected star of 2019.
Tonight’s game is also Star Wars Night at PNC Arena – May The Force Be With Them.
Rod Brind’Amour’s team usually puts in a good rebound effort after a blowout loss. Combined with the energy brought to the team by the acquisition of Nino Niederreiter, and the atmosphere generated by Star Wars Night, I fully expect a Canes win and a debut goal from our Swiss sniper.
Prediction: Senators 3-5 Hurricanes