Carolina Hurricanes at Winnipeg Jets: Opening Night Preview, Game Notes and How to Watch

Carolina Hurricanes at Winnipeg Jets
October 13, 2016 - 8:00 pm
MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Fox Sports Carolinas | 99.9 FM The Fan, WRALSportsFan web and app
SB Nation Rivals - Arctic Ice Hockey

Game Notes

• It’s opening night for the ‘Canes, boys and girls! It has been 187 days since the Hurricanes last played a regular season game, but the wait is finally over.
• Stealing the show on opening night will be the battle of two of the NHL’s top Finnish prospects, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho and Winnipeg’s 2016 second overall draft pick Patrik Laine. Aho and Laine played alongside each other in the 2016 World Junior Championships, in which they formed the best line of the tournament with Jesse Puljujarvi and led Finland to a gold medal.
• I’m not Finnished yet. Teuvo Teravainen will also be making his highly anticipated Hurricanes debut after being acquired via trade from the Chicago Blackhawks with Bryan Bickell back in June.
• Ryan Murphy won’t be in the lineup due to a knee injury. He will be sidelined for 3-4 weeks. One of Klas Dahlbeck or rookie Roland McKeown will fill in on the bottom pairing for opening night.
• Both clubs are coming off of solid preseason results. The Hurricanes finished their exhibition schedule with a 4-2-1 record and the Jets went 4-3-0.
• The Hurricanes and Jets are both among the three youngest teams in the NHL. Winnipeg rookies Laine, Josh Morrissey, Kyle Connor and Brandon Tanev all cracked their opening night roster.
• Thanks to the North Carolina State Fair, the Carolina Hurricanes are, once again, opening the regular season on a lengthy road trip. This year, the ‘Canes will visit the Jets, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings prior to their home opener on October 28 against the New York Rangers. The Hurricanes know this will be a big test, but they won’t make any excuses. "Good teams find a way to win no matter what," Jordan Staal said following Wednesday’s practice in Raleigh, "and in the end, that's what we have to do."
• Over the past few days, the Hurricanes have added depth to their roster with the additions of forward Martin Frk (DET) and Dahlbeck (AZ) via the waiver wire and defenseman Jakub Nakladal via free agent signing. Nakladal, who skated in 27 games with the Calgary Flames last season and was a member of the Czech blue line during the World Cup of Hockey, won’t be available to play until Sunday night in Vancouver at the earliest due to the immigration process.
• Last season, the Hurricanes swept their two-game season series against the Jets, including a 5-3 win at the MTS Centre on February 5.
• Since the team moved back to Winnipeg, the Jets are 0-2-0 when opening their season on home ice. The Hurricanes haven’t won a season opener since Jeff Skinner’s NHL debut on October 7, 2010, a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland. They are 0-4-1 since.
• Fox Sports Carolinas will have a lot of special opening night content, including interviews with Jordan Staal and head coach Bill Peters, a season preview from Tripp Tracy and an offseason recap during Hurricanes LIVE! starting at 7:30. The highlight of their broadcast (other than the game) will be a two-part interview with general manager Ron Francis during the first and second intermissions. The recently added Mike Maniscalco won’t be a part of Carolina’s broadcast, #ForNow. He will make his debut with the Fox Sports Carolinas crew on October 25 in Detroit. Your regularly scheduled Hurricanes LIVE! postgame show will hit your televisions immediately following Carolina’s win.