Game Preview: Canes Finish Road Trip With Lightning
By Glenn Brewer
Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes are back on the East Coast but still away from Raleigh as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canes have dropped the last two and look to rebound as they finish up the road trip.
After defeating the Ottawa Senators to open the season all the way back on October 11th, Carolina has been on the road. The first game of the road trip was on October 14th against the Los Angeles Kings and will now finish tonight in Florida.
The road trip has not been kind as the Canes are just 2-3 with losses in Anaheim, Seattle, and Colorado.
Tonight’s opponent has had an up-and-down season as well. With six points (2-2-2), the Lightning sit tied for 3rd in the Atlantic Division. Wins over Nashville and Vancouver have prevented a disaster of a start for the former Stanley Cup Champions.
Saturday was their last game and it was an OT loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Similar to the Canes, the problem is not scoring but giving up too many goals.
Tampa Bay has given up 4 goals or more in half of their matches this season and surrendered 6 goals to the Detroit Red Wings.
One obvious reason and weakness this season is the injury to all-world goaltender, Andrei Vasilevsky. Vasilevsky recently had back surgery to repair a lumbar disk herniation. This will cause the All-Star goalie to be out for at least two months.
In the Russian’s absence, Jonas Johansson has gotten the majority of the work and recorded 2 victories with a 3.58 GAA. His save percentage is .902, which is fair despite the hefty goals against.
The familiar faces lead the way for the Lightning so far this season as Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 6 goals and 9 points. Brayden Point has 7 helpers but has yet to record a goal on the young season.
Top defensemen Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev are a combined minus -10 to start the season.
Brandon Hagel is following up his first 30-goal season nicely with 4 goals and 6 points. Hagel has become one of the main threats on the top lines for Tampa Bay.
With many scoring threats, the Canes will have a difficult time defensively but may be getting help in the net if Frederik Andersen can return.
The key to this game will be getting a lot of shots to the net as the goaltending and defense will surely be struggling on both ends of the ice this evening. It is sure to be a high-scoring match in Florida tonight.
According to FanDuel, the Canes are the slight favorite this evening with -126 odds to win. I would suggest looking at the over 6.5 goals for the game as both teams find themselves defensively.