Carolina return home as the Hurricanes host the Montreal Canadiens

At the beginning of the season, people were looking forward to the clashes between Montreal and Carolina. As we approach the run-in at the end of the regular season, these two teams have had very conflicting fates. Carolina currently sits five points clear at the top of their division, one point behind the number one seed in the East. Montreal is at the opposite end of the standings, eliminated from playoff contention and bottom of the NHL.

Tonight, these two hockey clubs will renew their hostilities, but where most of this battle has been fought recently is in the front offices. These two teams on the ice have not really had the chance to develop a rivalry seeing as they only play three times a year and the two clubs have had rather different roads to their current positions. Either way, they go toe to toe tonight in a game I’m going to enjoy.

For Carolina, they lost in OT to Tampa Bay last time out but had back-to-back dominating performances over Washington and St Louis before that. Playing against this Carolina Hurricanes team is still a little bit like trying to contain a wildfire, it’s just a matter of time before things get out of your control and it breaks through those constraints. They will go up against the pretty poor Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal is coming off the back of a 7-4 defeat to the Florida Panthers. Do not let their record fool you, this is a team that has gotten a lot better since they removed the old coaching regime and replaced it with Martin St Louis, who was a noted Carolina Hurricanes killer in his playing days. This is a team that Carolina has to take seriously, or they could suffer a shocking defeat which is something no one wants right now.

Unfortunately, it’s been confirmed we will not have the story of Jesperi Kotkaniemi‘s final game in his first season against the team that he was with when the Hurricanes tendered an offer sheet to Kotkaniemi which he signed and the team refused to match. He’s out for “A matter of weeks” according to the hockey club, and will miss some time after enduring a charge with 1.8 seconds left in the Washington game that saw him leave the game hobbling.

Carolina needs to win tonight. With their magic number for playoff qualification sitting at only six points, it’s just a matter of time before the Hurricanes gain that little X next to their name in the standings. Would there be any better way to draw closer to it than beating the team that tried to take your best player from you all those years ago?

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: What do you think the score will be tonight?