The Hurricanes broke Washington’s 10-game home win streak on Thursday night, and now they’ll try to start a new home win streak of their own at PNC Arena against the Capitals.
Vital Statistics
Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
---|---|---|
Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
Record | 8-6 | 11-5 |
Goals/Game | 2.79 | 3.31 |
Goals Against/Game | 2.71 | 2.06 |
Shots/Game | 30.9 | 34.3 |
Faceoff % | 49.1% | 53.3% |
Power Play % (Rank) | 10.0% (14) | 31.9% (1) |
Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 70.8% (14) | 85.7% (4) |
ES Corsi For % | 55.61% | 51.66% |
ES PDO | 101.2% | 101.0 |
PIM/Game | 8:38 | 6:30 |
Goaltender #1
Category | Petr Mrazek | Tuukka Rask |
---|---|---|
Category | Petr Mrazek | Tuukka Rask |
Record | 5-5 | 11-5 |
Save % | .894 | .939 |
GAA | 2.73 | 1.96 |
Goaltender #2
Category | Curtis McElhinney | Jaroslav Halak |
---|---|---|
Category | Curtis McElhinney | Jaroslav Halak |
Record | 3-1 | 0-0 |
Save % | .943 | N/A |
GAA | 1.70 | N/A |
Brett Pesce has been placed on injured reserve after tumbling on a morning-practice slap shot yesterday. He had an MRI this morning which...apparently wasn’t good.
The open spot on the roster was filled by Lucas Wallmark, who has scored one goal and two assists in ten games with the Canes this season. Wallmark could fill Derek Ryan’s spot in the lineup after he was boarded by Tom Wilson in Thursday night’s game, but all indications so far point to Ryan manning his line.
Bill Peters said before Thursday’s game that Cam Ward would likely man the goal tonight, but after Darling’s sleek black pads helped him save 27 of 28 shots, the option is there to keep the hot hand in goal again. Ward had a great streak of wins in November through December, but has dropped the last two games, allowing seven (!) goals on 36 shots (including an 0/2 start before being pulled against the Bruins in the opening minutes).
There was no morning skate to break up to the back-to-back matches, but here’s a projected lineup based off of last night’s speedy lines and Bill Peters’ words:
Sebastian Aho - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn - Derek Ryan - Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom - Marcus Kruger - Josh Jooris
Jaccob Slavin - Justin Faulk
Klas Dahlbeck - Haydn Fleury
Noah Hanifin - Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Injuries and scratches: Lee Stempniak (healthy), Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Lucas Wallmark (healthy), Brett Pesce (IR)
The Washington Capitals will have to find a “desperate” energy that head coach Barry Trotz said was missing from his squad and evident in the Canes on Thurday night.
Expect Philipp Grubauer to take over in net for the Caps. Though he’s the backup, his 2.56 GAA bests Braden Holtby’s 2.66 on the season, with almost identical save percentages (.916 to .917). Shot volume could be a big factor once again for a Carolina victory.
No injuries to report from last night, but Andre Burakovsky remains sidelined with an illness. The Caps recalled Travis Boyd to fill his roster spot.
Without a morning skate, we expect the same lines tonight:
Alexander Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson
Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson - Jay Beagle - Alex Chiasson
Christian Djoos - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik - Madison Bowey
Philipp Grubauer
Braden Holtby