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.

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.

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

The Carolina Hurricanes have a 51.4% chance of winning tonight’s game according to moneypuck.com.