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The Carolina Hurricanes come off a disappointing loss last night in Madison Square Garden to take on the dominant Boston Bruins on home ice with playoff hopes quickly slipping away.
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 |
Game Notes
- The Hurricanes trail all-time with a 77-100-22 record, including a 42-44-12 record at home against the Bruins.
- Tonight marks the third and final matchup between the two sides this season. Boston has taken the first two matchups by a combined score of 11-4, although Carolina did earn a loser point in Boston on February 27th.
- The Hurricanes have earned at least a point in eight of their last nine games against Boston, going 5-1-3 in that span.
- Jordan Staal led the team last season with three points (1g, 2a) in two games against the Bruins.
- Cam Ward, who is expected to start tonight, has been strong recently against Boston, going 4-1-1 in his last six decisions against the team dating back to March of 2016.
Lines and Rosters
The Hurricanes come off of an extremely disappointing loss last night in a must win game against a Rangers team that isn’t in the hunt. Scott Darling had a tough night, his third of the season against the Rangers, and the much anticipated season debut of top AHL scorer Valentin Zykov was a false alarm. However, it’s a new day and you can expect a shakeup from Peters after a loss last night. Cam Ward in net is the only certainty at this point, but here’s your projected lines (with the caveat that there will likely be changes that we won’t learn about until the warmup):
Sebastian Aho - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn - Elias Lindholm - Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Phil Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom - Derek Ryan - Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
The Bruins have all but locked up a playoff spot, and are six points back of division-leading Tampa with two games in hand. They have just begun a stretch of eight in nine away from home, which started in Chicago on Sunday where they lost 3-1. Here’s how they will look tonight:
Brad Marchand - Riley Nash - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Rick Nash
Danton Heinen - David Backes - Brian Gionta
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Kevan Miller
Matt Grzelcyk - Nick Holden
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin