Hurricanes vs Oilers: Preview

Carolina Hurricanes vs Edmonton Oilers
November 25, 2015 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
Fox Sports Carolinas - 99.9 FM - WRALSportsFan app
SB Nation Rivals - Copper & Blue

Vital Statistics

*Stats from NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• With all the hoopla surrounding the tenth anniversary of the magical Stanley Cup championship season, it's a cold dose of reality that the 26th ranked Hurricanes are taking on the 30th ranked Edmonton Oilers tonight.
• It's been a while since either team was relevant in the standings, that said, tonight's matchup should be an entertaining one between two clubs rebuilding with talented young players. The teams split their season series last year with each winning on home ice, the most recent a 7-4 victory here in March that featured hat tricks for both Elias Lindholm and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
• Recent games between the Canes and Oilers have been high-scoring affairs. Lindholm (6 points in 4 games), Eric Staal (15 points in 10 games) and Jeff Skinner (9 points in 6 games) are all point-per-game producers against the Oilers, and Nugent-Hopkins (8 points in 5 games), Taylor Hall (4 points in 4 games) and Jordan Eberle (9 points in 6 games) are all at a point-per-game pace or better against the Canes. Hall (9g, 15a) leads the Oilers this season with 24 points.
• The Oilers come into tonight's game having outplayed the Capitals in Washington on Monday night, only to have the game stolen by Braden Holtby in a 1-0 shutout. Expect that to weigh on them a bit heading into tonight's game. The team practiced at PNC Arena yesterday without Matt Hendricks or Oscar Klefbom, but there were no indications that it was anything other than a maintenance day and both are expected to be available.
• Since no one on the Oilers roster seems to be in dire need of a goal-scoring milestone event, the odds-on scorer tonight would have to be Andrej Sekera, who Canes fans will see for the first time since he was traded away last season.
• Anders Nilsson has started seven of the last nine games in net for the Oilers, and he's been tagged to get the start again tonight. Nilsson has one career appearance against the Canes, four goals against in a memorable 5-4 win with the Islanders here at PNC (the one in March 2014 where the Canes spotted the Isles a four-goal lead in the first 10 minutes before making a game of it in the eventual loss).
• If you bought tickets for tonight's game, or circled it on your calendar, because you wanted to see one of the most talented top players from the 2015 draft, well, Noah Hanifin is expected to be in the lineup for the Canes ;)
• Justin Faulk has a six-game point streak (3g, 4a), Brett Pesce is on a two-game goal scoring streak, Victor Rask and Elias Lindholm have points in two straight games, and Brad Malone is on a two-game fighting major streak.
• After Monday's loss to the Flyers, the Canes had a scheduled day off, and the only news was the injury to Nathan Gerbe, which places him on IR for an estimated four to six weeks. Stay tuned for updates following the morning skate as to any changes to the lineup, including confirmation of a starting netminder. Eddie Lack, coming off a solid effort against the Flyers, has never faced the Oilers in his career. Cam Ward has fared okay against Edmonton from what I can recall.

Projected Lineups

Hurricanes (from morning skate)

Eric Staal - Victor Rask - Elias Lindholm
Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Andrej Nestrasil
Jeff Skinner - Riley Nash - Kris Versteeg
Brad Malone - Jay McClement - Chris Terry

Ron Hainsey - Justin Faulk 
John-Michael Liles - Brett Pesce
Noah Hanifin - Jaccob Slavin

Cam Ward
Eddie Lack

Injuries and scratches: James Wisniewski (IR ACL), Ryan Murphy (concussion), Nathan Gerbe (ankle), Michal Jordan (healthy)

Oilers (from Monday's game)

Taylor Hall - Leon Draisaitl - Teddy Purcell
Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks - Mark Letestu - Nail Yakupov
Luke Gazdic - Lauri Korpikoski - Iiro Pakarinen

Darnell Nurse - Andrej Sekera
Oscar Klefbom - Mark Fayne
Brandon Davidson - Eric Gryba

Anders Nilsson
Cam Talbot

Injuries and Scratches: Connor McDavid (IR broken clavicle), Rob Klinkhammer (IR undisclosed), Justin Schultz (IR back), Andrew Ference, Griffin Reinhart, Anton Lander

Storm Debris

• In case you can't get enough of the excellent Rod Brind'Amour Flyers Hall of Fame ceremony in Philly on Monday, here it is again in its entirety [CH.com] and also an interview video [CH.com].
• Canes Gameday Hub [CH.com].
• Notes from Oilers practice yesterday at PNC Arena [Oilers.com].
• On having to sometimes look outside the game to make the experience more enjoyable [Section 328].
• Pipeline update on Canes prospects [Canes & Coffee].
• Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts includes a look at how technology is changing the goaltending game. Points 18-20 are about the Canes and some interesting insight on how Eddie Lack's goaltending positioning is changing at Carolina. Definitely worth a read. Also embedded in the 30 thoughts is a 12-minute interview with Eric Staal from last week [SportsNet].
• Forbes has published its annual valuation of NHL franchises. Spoiler, the Canes are ranked 28th at $225 million (the Rangers top the list at $1.2 billion) [Forbes].
• Finally, over 800 families in the Raleigh area will be able to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving meal thanks to a delivery from the Canes to Helping Hands Mission yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving to all reading. I have much to be thankful for and I hope you do as well.

The #Canes donated 800 turkeys to area families in need today at @RalHelpingHand. pic.twitter.com/5s0X3BhrAC

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) November 24, 2015