Tonight is going to be a fun one, my friends, as the Carolina Hurricanes finally return home to PNC Arena after a tough five-game road swing through Florida and Nashville.
The Canes dropped their first two of the trip in Tampa Bay as part of a three-game losing skid before righting the ship in sweeping the pesky Florida Panthers in a two-game set. They then narrowly held on against the Nashville Predators Tuesday evening to close it out.
The boys were clearly gassed in that final third period, but thanks to James Reimer‘s big saves and Sebastian Aho‘s game-sealing empty netter, the Canes headed back to Raleigh feeling pretty good about the stretch.
Tonight, the Canes get a home game with a few very intriguing storylines to watch for. They will face off against the rebuilding Detroit Red Wings, a team with a few solid young pieces up front, but by and large lacking depth and talent throughout their lineup – especially with captain Dylan Larkin set to miss his fourth consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
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However, the Carolina Hurricanes have already dropped one game against the Red Wings way back in the opening series of the season, and as head coach Rod Brind’Amour recently said, “the other guys make a lot of money too”. That includes Detroit – you can never take a night off in the NHL.
The Hurricanes sit at 15-6-1 on the season, tied for the Central Division lead with Tampa Bay (who have two games in hand at 15-4-1), but there are still clear areas for improvement. Now would be a great time to key in on some of these areas, as the team looks to continue to grow into a Stanley Cup contender.