Game Preview: The Hurricanes Head to Detroit This Evening
By Glenn Brewer
The Carolina Hurricanes will be closing out their long, two-week road trip this evening in Detroit. The Red Wings are 13-8-6 this year and are right in the thick of the playoff hunt.
The six-game road trip has been a grind but the Hurricanes have grabbed points in all of the 5 previous games. Only losing in OT to the Anaheim Ducks.
Coming off an impressive 3-0 win against the New York Islanders, Pyotr Kochetkov should be back in between the pipes for Carolina.
The Red Wings have lost two straight, with the last game being on Saturday against the Dallas Stars where they lost in OT by the score of 3-2.
On home ice, the Red Wings are 7-4-3 and have scored slightly more goals than the Hurricanes through 27 games.
Detroit is led by their captain, Dylan Larkin in goals and points with 10 and 17 respectively.
An impressive season thus far for Dominik Kubalik has him second in points with 25 and tied for the team lead in goals with Larkin’s 10.
Kubalik has carried the Red Wings’ power play with 12 points on the man advantage.
Always a threat to score is a veteran forward, David Perron. Perron is playing in his first year with Detroit after signing as a free agent this summer. he has 9 goals and 21 points.
In goal, the Red Wings are led by the 27-year-old Ville Husso.
Husso has started 19 of the Red Wings’ 27 games and has 11 wins. He has a formidable 2.56 goals against average with a .916 save percentage. 3 of his 11 victories are via the shutout.
Outside of Filip Hronek, the defensive group is not a threat offensively.
The defensemen will be the hole in the Red Wings game and the Hurricanes will have a chance to attack with their talented group of forwards.
The forecheck will play a big part in pinning the Red Wings defense deep and creating chances off of turnovers.
The Jordan Staal line will play a big part in this aspect of the game while shutting down the Larkin line.
Jesper Fast will be a game time decision in Detroit but he more than likely watching the game from the press box to prevent further injuries.
The Hurricanes will be going with 7 defensemen again as Sebastian Aho will not play for the second consecutive contest.
In the long run, it is smart to keep these players as fresh as possible and not extend the injuries any longer than they need to be.
Aho and Fast are very important players in different roles for Brind’Amour’s system.
The long awaited end to this road trip is tonight, can the Hurricanes grab a point in every game of the trip?