The Carolina Hurricanes, (21-15-6) are presently up north and are ready to do battle with the Buffalo Sabres, (18-19-5) one of the teams presently below them in the standings so far this season. The Sabres have faced all kinds of adversity and are currently without the services of their leading scorer, Derek Roy, who was injured a couple of weeks ago.
One thing which has been consistent in Buffalo though has been their goaltending and while Ryan Miller's numbers are down a bit, he's always been a tough out for Carolina. Miller has a career 10-4-3 record against the Canes.
Cam Ward's career record against the Sabres is 4-5-1 with a GAA of 3.38.
It will be 30 versus 30, Ward against Miller again tonight.
Thomas Vanek, Jordan Leopold, and Drew Stafford lead Lindy Ruff's troops.
The Sabres are 4-2 in their last six games and 5-4-1 in their last ten.
Last year the Sabres got the best of Carolina, 2-1-1 in their season series, although the Canes have split decisions in Buffalo the last two seasons.
An interesting tidbit - Buffalo is the only NHL team with which the Carolina franchise has not conducted a trade of any kind.
The Hurricanes are on a major roll as they have won three games in a row and have earned points in eight straight, (6-0-2), as well as in 13 of the last 16 games, (10-3-3).
Eric Staal has the longest scoring streak going and has earned points in six straight games, (3G 3A). Erik Cole, (4G 0A) has scored goals in three straight, while Tuomo Ruutu, (2G 4A) Jeff Skinner, (3G 2A) and Patrick Dwyer, (0G 3A) have points in three straight.
The Hurricanes current depth chart has the lines as follows, but there are no guarantees as the lines have been switched liberally.
- Staal, Boychuk, Cole
- Ruutu, Skinner, LaRose
- Sutter, Dwyer, Jokinen
- Dalpe, Bodie, Samsonov
- Gleason, Corvo
- Pitkanen, McBain
- White, Harrison
John Forslund "Tweeted" that Ryan Carter could play tonight, meaning that Zac Dalpe would probably be the odd man out if Carter does play.
This game is very important to both teams but Buffalo should be more desperate tonight. They most recently blew a 2-0 lead and lost the game, 5-2 to the Flyers on Tuesday night. Die By The Blade will have more.
This game will be broadcast on television locally by FS Carolinas, meaning that Tripp Tracy bingo will be in full effect the Open Game Thread.