Carolina Hurricanes at Anaheim Ducks: Game Day Preview

by Jamie Kellner on Feb 8, 2012 5:07 PM EST in Carolina Hurricanes Game Day Previews

Disturbance at the end of the last meeting between the Carolina Hurricanes and Anaheim Ducks, a 4-2 Canes win at the RBC Center on December 18, 2010. Will there be late-night fireworks tonight? (author's photos)

The circus is in town, which means no ice at the RBC Center, so the Carolina Hurricanes have headed to the left coast for a late night match-up at 10:00 pm tonight against the Anaheim Ducks in the first game of a three-game road trip. This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Canes won the only meeting of the 2010-11 season, 4-2, on December 18 in Raleigh.

The Ducks (20-24-8, 48 points) were a much-improved 9-2-1 in January but lost 2 games to start February before an eight-round shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Monday. Fans will see a familiar face behind the bench in Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau, who joined the Ducks in November after losing his job with the division rival Washington Capitals.

The Hurricanes (20-25-9, 49 points) haven't played since Saturday, when they toughed it out in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Chad LaRose will be returning to the line-up tonight after missing two games due to illness. He's expected to join a line with Tim Brent and Anthony Stewart, who was placed on waivers Monday and cleared yesterday.

Projected lines for both teams, courtesy of the Orange County Register:

For the Canes:

Jiri Tlusty - Eric Staal - Tuomo Ruutu

Drayson Bowman - Jeff Skinner - Jussi Jokinen

Andreas Nodl - Brandon Sutter - Patrick Dwyer

Chad LaRose - Tim Brent - Anthony Stewart

Tim Gleason - Bryan Allen

Jay Harrison - Justin Faulk

Jaroslav Spacek - Jamie McBain

Cam Ward (20-18-8, 2.76 GAA, .913 SV%) will be in net, backed up by Justin Peters.

Derek Joslin is expected to be the healthy extra. Joni Pitkanen (IR, concussion/knee) and Brian Boucher (IR, lower body) did not make the trip.

For the Ducks:

Bobby Ryan - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey - Saku Koivu - Teemu Selanne

Jason Blake - Nick Bonino - Andrew Cogliano

Niklas Hagman - Rod Pelley - George Parros

Francois Beauchemin - Cam Fowler

Luca Sbisa - Lubomir Visnovsky

Toni Lydman - Sheldon Brookbank

Jonas Hiller (17-19-8, 2.82 GAA, .905) will get the start in goal.

For your listening pleasure, Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller (who is celebrating his 46th birthday today) spoke to the media after the morning skate (audio), as did Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau (video). The game will be televised on FSCarolinas and radio broadcast on 99.9 The Fan. For Ducks news, check out SBNation affiliate Anaheim Calling. We'll have the open game thread here starting at 9:30 pm. See you then.

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A. Stewart...

Very interested to see how he responds to the waivers thing…

Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand.

by HockeyHick74 on Feb 8, 2012 5:12 PM EST reply actions

Well if he doesn’t have jump tonight he never will…

by dbaerry34 on Feb 8, 2012 5:27 PM EST up reply actions

Indeed

He just learned his team wanted to be rid of him and nobody else really wanted him either. He needs to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with Coach Rick (if he hasn’t already) and find out exactly what he needs to do to make a positive contribution to the team in his role. He’s big and fast, but his speed gets him out of position and he isn’t smart with the puck. Hopefully this is a wake up call for him, because right now nobody else wants him on their NHL club, he needs to prove something to somebody if he wants a job in the league.

by Kubota on Feb 8, 2012 6:50 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I don’t think you can automatically assume that nobody wanted him.

Remember Tampa Bay placed Jussi on waivers – twice – before we later acquired him via trade.

twitter @jbk_ltd

by Jamie Kellner on Feb 8, 2012 7:00 PM EST up reply actions

He plays on the fourth line, he has been a healthy scratch, and he is often the player with the least amount of minutes played. If he hasn’t seen the writing on the wall by now then there is something wrong. So I doubt him going on waivers is going to change much in his play.

by hotchipsnsalsa on Feb 8, 2012 7:18 PM EST up reply actions

2 points would be nice vs a hot Duck team

by hellfish on Feb 8, 2012 5:16 PM EST reply actions

I love Ian White's cool appraisal of the scuffle in that picture.

On topic, we should be able to win this one if we can bring the same intensity we seem to have against good teams. Hopefully Stewart will have a bit more fire and maybe even feed off LaRose’s energy some.

by Bgallen on Feb 8, 2012 5:20 PM EST reply actions

That was the game where Staal had a hat trick early in the 2nd, right? I remember a lot of extra curricular activities that night. Here’s to the Canes making Boudreau use the F-Bomb a few times tonight.

LTD – good writeup, and great pictures for family day – I guess a picture does paint a thousand words!

by jbwhite99 on Feb 8, 2012 9:05 PM EST up reply actions

oh, and how many times has Ruutu signed and/or been traded today? Sounds a little quiet on the Finnish front. Here’s to hoping that JR gets the pimp hand out to resign him on July 1, but not before we get a king’s ransom (or a Duck’s ransom or a Predator’s ransom…) for renting him out for the next 3 months. As well as we have played lately, we aren’t going to make the playoffs, so I’d rather invest in the future… But I do believe that we need to server 82 Skinner Finnwiches next year.

by jbwhite99 on Feb 8, 2012 9:07 PM EST up reply actions

Late game but I will try to stay up…Lets go Canes

by dbaerry34 on Feb 8, 2012 5:25 PM EST reply actions

Wished I lived on the West Coast….

Go Canes Go!!!!!!

by CruelIn10tions on Feb 8, 2012 5:50 PM EST via mobile reply actions

2nd line

I was pulling for the Bowman jussi Skinner line for while. But now that it has happened it has really impressed. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a good line, but may need to either switch bowman and Nodl or switch jussi and ruutu. Needs hitting!

by jerry6racing on Feb 8, 2012 9:05 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions