Hartford Whalers vs. Boston Bruins: Game Preview and Discussion

The Carolina Whalers — er, Hurricanes — take on the Boston Bruins tonight wearing the classic Whalers green. They will try to pick up a win and turn around an otherwise abysmal Christmas home stand.

Game Notes

• Tonight marks the second of three games between the Bruins and the Canes this season. The Bruins took the first matchup on October 30th by a score of 3-2.
• The Hurricanes will be wearing the Whalers throwback jerseys tonight in a nod to the history between these two franchises. A great indication of their fractious relationship is the fact that the Whalers recorded more fighting majors against Boston (143) than any other team in their 18 years of existence.
• Tonight’s jerseys are modeled after the Whalers’ road templates between 1985-1989.
• And if you haven’t yet, go ahead and check out the new look of Hurricanes.com.

Lines and Rosters

Jordan Staal was knocked out of last night’s game with an upper body injury that was later revealed to be a blow to the head. That’s really bad news as he just returned on Thursday from some lengthy time off with a concussion. As a result, the team recalled Clark Bishop and Janne Kuokkanen from the Checkers. I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Bishop in the middle tonight based on the nature of Staal’s injury, but whether or not Kuokkanen draws in remains to be seen. Here’s what you can expect tonight.

Micheal Ferland - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Jordan Martinook - Lucas Wallmark - Andrei Svechnikov
Warren Foegele - Clark Bishop - Justin Williams
Brock McGinn - Victor Rask - Phil Di Giuseppe

Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan - Justin Faulk
Trevor van Riemsdyk - Dougie Hamilton

Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney

The Bruins come into tonight’s game riding a three game win streak. Patrice Bergeron returned yesterday after missing over a month, so the Bruins will have their big line back together. However, they will still be without Zdeno Chara and Jake DeBrusk, so here’s how we’ll see them tonight.

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
Ryan Donato - Colby Cave - David Backes
Chris Wagner - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari

Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
John Moore - Steve Kampfer

Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak

Friendly Reminder From Canes Country Management

If you’re visiting Canes Country from elsewhere, perhaps for the first time, please keep in mind that fans of the Hurricanes have no more to do with the team leaving Hartford than Whalers fans do.

If you’re coming by to share your memories of Whalers hockey from years gone by, we welcome you and look forward to your stories, as they are a part of the fabric of our - all of our - franchise. But if you’re coming by simply to troll Hurricanes fans, we have no time for that and you will be summarily reminded that such comments are against the house rules, and will lead to comments being deleted and, potentially, suspensions.

And the reverse also applies to our CC comment-section regulars. This isn’t the time to drag the Whalers or Hartford, or to assert superiority of either our city or the Hurricanes. (Honestly, never is the time to do any of those things in the comments, but it bears repeating given the circumstances of this weekend.) Make our visitors feel welcome, not ostracized. Nor is this the time to post unfounded speculation or opinion regarding the team’s future.

We look forward to Whalers Night as a chance to reminisce and celebrate the history of NHL hockey in Hartford, without which there would not be NHL hockey in Raleigh. It should be a heck of a good time; please help everyone enjoy it by not trolling the comments. Thank you kindly!