Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Continuing Streak Versus Dallas
The Carolina Hurricanes travel to Dallas tonight to take on the Stars for the 3rd time this season. The Canes are undefeated against the Dallas Stars this season, and they hope to keep this stat intact; the Stars will still be without star forward Tyler Seguin and franchise goaltender Ben Bishop.
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Tonight’s matchup will be yet another test for the Carolina Hurricanes; the Stars are still very much a good, competitive team, even without Seguin and Bishop. The Canes should see a welcome familiar face return tonight as well; more on that later.
After splitting a miniseries against Columbus, the Canes should come out with a fire in their bellies to hopefully not repeat the same result against a bigger threat to their playoff hunt in Dallas.
Beating Dallas is no easy task in the first place, but to do so without Martin Necas this time will be even more of a challenge. My fingers are crossed and my expectations are tempered. Let’s get into the keys to tonight’s game.
Reimer Takes the Reins Again
James Reimer is expected to start tonight against the Dallas Stars.
Reimer, in my opinion, is a bit overworked at this point, but he has nonetheless been a huge reason why the Carolina Hurricanes have managed to be as successful as they have been in Petr Mrazek‘s absence.
DOINK pic.twitter.com/9hAg2gC42o
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 3, 2021
The past couple of games with Reimer in net, however, have been a bit shaky on the goaltending front; he has by no means been awful, but he hasn’t necessarily been good either.
The result of tonight’s game rests largely on Reimer’s shoulders; if he can find a way to make the saves he needs to make, the Canes should do just fine. If he stumbles and continues to let the overwork shine through, the Canes are going to need the offense to really step up and secure the win.
More Depth Scoring
Depth scoring has propelled the Carolina Hurricanes to success this season.
While guys like Andrei Svechnikov and Vincent Trocheck have been the driving force behind the Canes’ offense, depth scoring has been such an influential aspect to what success they’ve found this season.
https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1359951877438324739
Nino Niederreiter has seemingly returned to his prolific self, as mentioned in my article from earlier today, Brock McGinn has stepped up and taken his first line ice time and turned it into gold. Even Warren Foegele has found the back of the net a couple times this season.
Tonight’s game is no different than any of the 10 the Canes have already played this season. The Carolina Hurricanes are definitely going to need the known goalscorers to score goals, but they’ll also need the depth guys to chip in and pull their own weight yet again.
Trocheck Returns
Just in time to return for Part 2 of his coming out party, Vincent Trocheck is expected to draw back into the lineup tonight.
We all know by now that Trocheck has been a huge part of this team’s success so far, and is sure to be a contributor to that going forward. He was sorely missed in the Canes’ second game against Columbus a few days ago, and he’ll be more than a sight for sore eyes in tonight’s game in Dallas.
https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1358533904957865984
The Canes are still missing Necas, though, who has also been a huge part of setting up a ton of goals for the Canes.
Trocheck does fill a large hole, though, and I’m more than glad to see him back on the ice. Pencil him in to your ‘players to watch’ list tonight if you haven’t already.
Game Notes
Location: American Airlines Center
TV: Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Uniforms: White Aways
Projected Lineup:
- Martinook – Aho – Teravainen
- Svechnikov – Staal – Foegele
- Niederreiter – Trocheck – McGinn
- Dzingel – Geekie – Fast
- Slavin – Hamilton
- Skjei – Pesce
- Gardiner – Fleury
Goalie Matchup:
Carolina: James Reimer
Dallas: Anton Khudobin
3. 119. Final. 4. 109
The Carolina Hurricanes have a 51.4% chance of winning tonight’s game according to moneypuck.com.
dark. Next. The Nino Niederreiter Revenge Tour