After a loss last night that looked worse on the scoreboard by the end than it actually was, the Hurricanes caught a flight home from New York where they were met at RDU by the Florida Panthers, who were also coming into town from a loss of their own.

In what should be a game between two teams that are tired but desperate for points in the standings, the two will face off at seven o’clock tonight at PNC. It’s the Panthers’ first visit to Raleigh since the surreal firing and subsequent infamous cab hail by now-Vegas coach Gerard Gallant last November.

Game Notes

• Both of these teams are struggling and out of the playoff picture. At 10-13-2, only the lowly Sabres sit behind the Panthers in the Eastern Conference standings
• This game is a rare one for the Hurricanes on the upcoming schedule in that it will come both at home and against a team that does not currently occupy a playoff position. They’ll only have two more such games for the remainder of 2017.
• Roberto Luongo has been fantastic for the Panthers this year, but since he went last night, it’s likely that we’ll see James Reimer, who is not having his best season, between the pipes for Florida tonight
• Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, and Aleksander Barkov have been as advertised for the Panthers this season with 25, 23, and 23 points respectively, all in 25 games. Inconsistent scoring depth behind them and weak defensive play have been the tough stuff for Florida to overcome
• This will be the second meeting in Raleigh for the two teams this year, as the Hurricanes came away with a 3-1 victory on November 7th. That game kicked off Carolina’s best stretch of the year so far, as they went 5-1-1 before dropping two games at home to the Rangers and Maple Leafs during Thanksgiving week.

Probable Lineups

Both teams played last night, so some healthy scratches (looking at you, Josh Jooris) could find their way back into each team’s lineup. I’m also assuming that we’ll see both Ward and Reimer in a back-up goaltending duel. With that said, with the caveat that some healthy scratches from last night could easily draw in, I’m not going to bank on that in this all-important game preview. Here’s what each team ran last night with the goalies swapped.

Carolina Hurricanes

Teuvo Teravainen - Jordan Staal - Sebastian Aho
Phil di Giuseppe - Victor Rask - Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner - Derek Ryan - Elias Lindholm
Joakim Nordstrom - Marcus Kruger - Brock McGinn

Haydn Fleury - Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce

Cam Ward
Scott Darling

Florida Panthers

Jon Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn - Vincent Trocheck - Nick Bjugstad
Henrik Haapala - Jared McCann - Radim Vrbata
Michael Haley - Derek MacKenzie - Colton Sceviour

Keith Yandle - Aaron Ekblad
Michael Matheson - MacKenzie Weegar
Mark Pysyk - Alex Petrovic

James Reimer
Roberto Luongo