Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets: Rosters and Game Discussion

The Hurricanes hit the road looking to make it two wins in a row against the Columbus Blue Jackets who currently sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina is coming off a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers Tuesday night. Rookie Roland McKeown, who had a big impact on that outcome with two points, was sent back down to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers to open up a spot for Brett Pesce who returns to the lineup tonight in Columbus.

Pesce was paired with Jaccob Slavin during the Canes morning skate. Cam Ward was first off the ice which gives him the starting nod tonight while setting up Scott Darling to face his former team the Chicago Blackhawks in the back end of the back to back in Raleigh tomorrow night. Here were the lines during the skate:

Sebastian Aho - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen

Brock McGinn - Victor Rask - Justin Williams

Jeff Skinner - Derek Ryan - Elias Lindholm

Joakim Nordstrom - Marcus Kruger - Josh Jooris

Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce

Hayden Fleury - Justin Faulk

Noah Hanifin - Trevor van Riemsdyk

Cam Ward

Scott Darling

Scratches: Patrick Brown (healthy), Klas Dahlbeck (healthy)

The Columbus Blue Jackets return to the ice after a 3-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. The loss was the Blue Jackets third straight. Columbus has collected just one point during their current three game skid. Tonight will also be the front end of a back to back for the Blue Jackets as they head to Detroit to face the Red Wings tomorrow night. Former Cane Zac Dalpe returned to practice and could be in the lineup tonight. Here are the projected lines for Columbus:

Artemi Panarin - Alexander Wennberg - Cam Atkinson

Boone Jenner - Nick Foligno - Josh Anderson

Tyler Motte - Brandon Dubinsky - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Sonny Milano - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Markus Hannikainen

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones

Jack Johnson - David Savard

Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo