Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Sweeping the Predators
The Carolina Hurricanes wrap up their 4-game homestand tonight as they once again host the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena. The Carolina Hurricanes have yet to be defeated by the Predators this season.
Tonight’s matchup should be an interesting one. Both teams will be down a few players; the Carolina Hurricanes will be missing Vincent Trocheck, Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Gardiner, and Petr Mrazek.
The Nashville Predators will be missing their fair share of players as well, including Juuse Saros and Roman Josi. Dante Fabbro will also serve the first of his two game suspension tonight for elbowing Brock McGinn earlier this week.
The Carolina Hurricanes have played almost every game this season missing at least one key piece from their roster. Tonight, they’re missing several.
Tonight’s matchup will surely test the mettle of the Carolina Hurricanes depth; it’s all about the ‘next man up’ mentality and whether or not the Canes’ depth can keep up with the Preds. If so, we should see another notch in the “W” column for the good guys.
3. Next Man Up
As I mentioned before, the Carolina Hurricanes will be devastatingly shorthanded tonight.
Things were already bad enough that Turbo is out, but now a huge impact player in Trocheck is out as well.
The Carolina Hurricanes have been down a player or two for what feels like all season, and that trend is going to continue and intensify tonight.
#Canes out of context pic.twitter.com/bEaungzuqL
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 7, 2021
To the Canes’ credit, though, they are one of the deepest teams in the league, and players like Steven Lorentz and Morgan Geekie have been incredibly solid when called upon.
If any team in the league can rely on the good ol’ ‘next man up’ strategy, its the Carolina Hurricanes; look for the regular contributors to do their thing tonight, but I’d also keep an eye on the aforementioned youngsters.
Times like these are prime opportunities for younger players to shine, and shine they have thus far.
2. Staal Score
Jordan Staal has had, for all intents and purposes, an absolute monster season so far.
The Captain of the Carolina Hurricanes has already eclipsed his goal total from last season in less than half the games played.
The funny thing is that Jordan Staal hasn’t really changed the way he plays all that much. He’s doing the same things and putting himself in the same places he normally does. The bounces just seem to finally be going in his favor this season.
Jordan Staal pic.twitter.com/Z74JSRjeyt
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 10, 2021
Staal’s luck, and consequently the Canes’ luck, have completely turned a 180 this season; Staal can’t seem to stop scoring and setting up goal after goal.
Tonight’s game should be no different. If you don’t have Staal penciled in under your “Players to Watch” list, make sure you add him immediately.
1. Officiating Woes
It is no secret by now that the referees and officiating in general this season have been complete garbage.
As evidenced in the last game against Nashville, the refs clearly can’t establish a baseline as to what should be a penalty and what shouldn’t.
This is obviously something that the league and NHL Player Safety have no interest in changing or improving at this point, so the Carolina Hurricanes are going to have to take it in stride and do what they can to mitigate the likelihood that they’ll be called for a penalty.
Nashville’s Dante Fabbro has been suspended for two games for Elbowing Carolina’s Brock McGinn. https://t.co/4u54AEqrbw
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) March 10, 2021
This could be anything from being extra mindful of body and stick positioning, to opt for maybe going for the puck along the boards instead of throwing around the body.
I’m sure most of you would agree that it’s a shame that it has come to this, but there’s not much than can be done about it. Best option going forward is to plan for it and play through it.
Game Notes
Location: PNC Arena
Puck Drop: 7:00PM EST
TV: Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Uniforms: Red Homes
Projected Lineup:
- Niederreiter – Aho – Necas
- Svechnikov – Staal – Fast
- McGinn – Martinook – Foegele
- Paquette – Geekie – Lorentz
- Slavin – Hamilton
- Skjei – Pesce
- Fleury – Bean
Projected Goalie Matchup:
Carolina: James Reimer, 11-3-0, .903 SV%, 2.83 GAA
Nashville: Pekka Rinne, 6-9-1, .903 SV%, 2.92 GAA
Score Prediction:
151. 3. 109. Prediction. 2
Moneypuck.com gives the Carolina Hurricanes a 61.1% chance of winning tonight’s game.