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Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets: Preview and Game Discussion

The Canes hit the road after a disappointing OT loss for the Jackets’ home opener in Columbus.

NHL: Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

The Carolina Hurricanes will venture out on the road for the first time this season with a familiar divisional foe in the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams are coming off Opening Night overtime affairs, with the Canes losing 2-1 at home, while the Jackets bested the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on the road.

For the Canes, last night was a familiar story as they heavily outshot the Islanders, yet came away short in the goal column. Rookie Andrei Svechnikov rang two off the bar in his debut, but he will look to get into the scorebook Friday against fellow Russian Sergei Bobrovsky. It is possible that the Canes will turn to recently acquired former Blue Jacket Curtis McElhinney in net.

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

Carolina didn’t take a morning skate and coach Rod Brind’Amour hinted at some lineup changes in his postgame press conference last night, so these might change from what they were last night:

Micheal Ferland - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen

Warren Foegele - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams

Brock McGinn - Martin Necas - Valentin Zykov

Jordan Martinook - Lucas Wallmark - Andrei Svechnikov

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton

Calvin de Haan - Justin Faulk

Trevor van Riemsdyk - Brett Pesce

Curtis McElhinney

Petr Mrazek

Scratches: Phil Di Giuseppe (healthy), Haydn Fleury (healthy), Scott Darling (lower body; injured reserve), Victor Rask (hand; injured non-roster)


The Blue Jackets will look to improve their work on the power play from Opening Night as they were almost undone by their 0-5 performance. The Jackets will now turn to Sergei Bobrovsky for the first time this season, as they were able to win on the road with backup Joonas Korpisalo stopping 18 of the 20 shots he faced in the opener. Columbus is expected to line up like this:

Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson

Nick Foligno - Alexander Wennberg - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Josh Anderson

Sonny Milano - Riley Nash - Anthony Duclair

Zach Werenski - David Savard

Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara

Dean Kukan - Gabriel Carlsson

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched: Markus Hannikainen, Lukas Sedlak, Adam Clendening

Injured: Scott Harrington (upper body), Seth Jones (knee)