Carolina Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks: Preview and Game Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes are seeking a win tonight in Vancouver to wrap up their Western Canada road trip. If history is any indication, that’s going to be a tall order. Ponder this for a moment:

Happy Gotcha Day, Coach! But wait:

That’s right. In Rod Brind’Amour’s illustrious tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes organization, he’s never been part of a win in his home province of British Columbia. Perhaps those fortunes change for the better tonight.

Tonight’s matchup completes the second and final regular season game between the Canes and Canucks. The Canes took the 5-3 win on Oct. 9, 2018 in Raleigh led by multi-point nights for Sebastian Aho (1g, 1a), Jaccob Slavin (2a), and Teuvo Teravainen (2a), along with 22 saves from Curtis McElhinney. Sven Baertschi collected 3 points (2g, 1a) for the Canucks, tying a career high for most points in a game. The Canucks are 7-3-0 in their last 10 appearances against the Canes, and as previously mentioned, have won 10 straight at Rogers Arena dating back to October 15, 1999.

Game Notes

• There are a couple of outstanding questions for the Canes heading into tonight’s game. Unfortunately, with the team’s late arrival in Vancouver and with back-to-back games, the team didn’t practice this morning so neither question will be answered until after Rod Brind’Amour’s media availability at 5:30 pm Pacific time (8:30 pm ET).
• Question #1 for the Canes: will Micheal Ferland be in the lineup tonight? Ferland missed the game against Edmonton Sunday night, then played for two periods before leaving last night’s game with an upper body issue. Calgary SportsNet reporter Eric Francis mentioned Ferland’s issue to be related to his back, confirmed by the Canes to be not concussion related. The Canes aren’t carrying and extra forward on the trip, so if Ferland is unable to play, the Canes will dress seven defensemen.
• Question #2 for the Canes: will Petr Mrazek start in net on back-to-back nights or will the opportunity open for Alex Nedeljkovic to get his first NHL start? Mrazek has played in two previous games against Vancouver, both wins, and with a 1.91 GAA and .932 save percentage. Nedeljkovic leads the AHL in goalie wins with 20 and sports a .903 save percentage and 2.68 GAA for Charlotte. We’ll await confirmation but NHL.com is strongly hinting that the rookie will get his first start.
• Here’s a somewhat surprising stat: the Canes currently rank fifth in the NHL in hits (1,288), after ranking 28th in the league last year.
• The Canucks conclude a six-game home stand tonight. They have been off since defeating the Red Wings 3-2 on Sunday. Calder favorite Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist after missing five games with an MCL sprain. They have points in five straight games.
• Where’s Jordan Staal when you need him? Bo Horvat ranks first in the NHL in face-off wins (655), first in even-strength face-off wins (538), and first in face-offs taken (1233).

Projected Lineup - Hurricanes

(note: based on last night’s lineup, to be updated after team media availability at 8:30 pm ET)

Nino Niederreiter – Sebastian Aho – Justin Williams
Micheal Ferland – Lucas Wallmark – Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov – Jordan Martinook – Brock McGinn
Warren Foegele – Greg McKegg – Saku Maenalanen

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

Alex Nedeljkovic
Petr Mrazek

Injuries and Scratches: Haydn Fleury (healthy), Curtis McElhinney (lower body), Jordan Staal (upper body; injured reserve)

Projected Lineup - Canucks

Sven Baertschi - Elias Pettersson - Brock Boeser
Josh Leivo - Bo Horvat - Markus Granlund
Antoine Roussel - Brandon Sutter - Jake Virtanen
Loui Eriksson - Jay Beagle - Tyler Motte

Alexander Edler - Christopher Tanev
Ben Hutton - Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot - Erik Gudbranson

Jacob Markstrom
Thatcher Demko

Injuries and Scratches: Alex Biega (healthy), Nikolay Goldobin (healthy), Tim Schaller (healthy)