Carolina Hurricanes: Visiting familiar faces on Tuesday night

The Carolina Hurricanes will be facing off against some old friends on Tuesday night, as they take on the Pacific Division-leading Calgary Flames for their second of a three-game Western Canadian road trip.

The Carolina Hurricanes are coming off of a much-needed 7-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night. That win will likely give the Canes a nice confidence boost on this vital road swing. The team currently sits seven points out of the last Eastern Conference wildcard spot as we continue to approach the All-Star Game break. The importance of tonight’s matchup cannot be stressed enough – and it is not an easy one by any means.

The big storyline for tonight’s game is of course the familiar faces that Caniacs may or may not be thrilled to see. The first-place Calgary Flames boast three former Carolina Hurricanes in the likes of two former fifth overall picks of the Canes, Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, along with Derek Ryan. Canes fans will also recognize the man behind the bench for the Flames – the infamous Bill Peters – who is showing that a change of scenery can do wonders in this league. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a player that some would argue is the best in the NHL.

More on that later. The aforementioned elite player I speak of is Johnny Guadreau, who is having a Hart-trophy caliber season and sits second in the NHL with 73 points. The lethality of Johnny Hockey will likely need to be a kept to a minimum tonight in order for the Canes to get another winning streak started.

Back to the change of scenery cliché. Along with Bill Peters’ success with the Flames, Elias Lindholm has also notably benefited from the North Carolina to Alberta change. Playing alongside Guadreau has seen the former Cane notch 57 points through 50 games played this season – good for third amongst his Flames’ teammates and tied for 13th in the league. This definitely leaves Caniacs with the thought of a “what could’ve been” question, but there is no time to dwell. Instead, Canes fans should look at the growing potential the change of scenery has for newly-acquired Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter.

Playing in his 500th NHL game against Edmonton, El Niño scored his first and second goals as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes – surpassing in one period the man he was traded for, Victor Rask’s goal total with the team this year. Niederreiter is someone to keep your eye on because if he continues to produce with the Canes, he could be a vital piece for the franchise moving forward.

One more thing fans should watch for as this road trip continues is the play of Andrei Svechnikov. The rookie was going through a bit of a slump before Sunday night. The Edmonton game put a stop to that as he produced a goal and two assists. Svech gaining his confidence back and catching fire at the right time will greatly help the Canes continue to push onwards towards that elusive playoff spot. It may be that the changed-up lines for that Oilers game helped jolt Svech into life – we don’t anticipate any changes this time around.

I expect tonight to be a fast-paced and high-scoring affair. The Carolina Hurricanes are confident and know what’s at stake and this, matched with the potency of Calgary’s number two-ranked scoring attack, calls for fireworks. I expect both Canes Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour and Calgary’s Bill Peters to have a chips on their shoulders going into the contest – but I think RBA’s chip will be bigger and better. The Canes feed off of their coach’s energy, and will win an electric game tonight.

Prediction: Hurricanes 5:4 Flames