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Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: Game Preview and Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in their alternate black uniforms tonight in their first of only four home games during the month of January.

Jamie Kellner

The Carolina Hurricanes face another division foe tonight in the Columbus Blue Jackets on the second leg of a back-to-back as they try to put together a modest win streak.


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 Canes and Blue Jackets are meeting for the third of four matchups this season. The Canes will visit Columbus once more in March.
  • The Canes won 3-1 at Nationwide Arena on October 5th, led by a multi-point night from both Sebastian Aho and Micheal Ferland and 31 saves from Curtis McElhinney.
  • Columbus took the November 17th matchup at PNC Arena in a 4-1 decision. Sebastian Aho scored the only Canes goal.
  • Speaking of Aho, the Canes’ all-star rep is slated to play in his 200th NHL game tonight. He leads the Hurricanes in goals (15), assists (26) and points (41) through 39 games thus far this season.
  • Carolina is an impressive 13-4-4 in their last 21 games against Columbus and 4-1-2 in their last seven.
  • The Hurricanes assigned Haydn Fleury to the Charlotte Checkers this afternoon. This is likely a good sign, as Fleury has missed the last nine games with a concussion and this would indicate that he’s ready for game action. Despite the fact that this is not listed as a conditioning stint, that’s largely semantics due to the fact that Fleury does not require waivers to be assigned to the AHL.

Lines and Rosters

The Hurricanes called up Greg McKegg on an emergency basis this morning as a result of an injury that Clark Bishop sustained during last night’s matchup in Philadelphia. He will most likely draw into that 4C slot tonight in his first NHL action of the season. We will most likely see Curtis McElhinney between the pipes tonight after Petr Mrazek earned the win last night in Philly. Other than those two changes, we can expect the same line construction as last night.

Brock McGinn - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen

Jordan Martinook - Lucas Wallmark - Justin Williams

Andrei Svechnikov - Victor Rask - Micheal Ferland

Warren Foegele - Greg McKegg - Saku Maenalanen

Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce

Calvin de Haan - Justin Faulk

Trevor van Riemsdyk - Dougie Hamilton

Petr Mrazek

Curtis McElhinney

Injuries and Scratches: Clark Bishop (lower body)


The Blue Jackets come into tonight’s tilt in Raleigh on four days rest as they start a kickoff game road trip. They’re red hot, winning six of their last seven games and earning points in eight of their last nine. Sergei Bobrovsky has been confirmed in net. Here’s how you can expect for them to line up tonight.

Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson

Anthony Duclair - Alexander Wennberg - Josh Anderson

Markus Hannikainen - Boone Jenner - Oliver Bjorkstrand

Riley Nash - Brandon Dubinsky - Lukas Sedlak

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones

Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara

Scott Harrington - David Savard

Sergei Bobrovsky

Joonas Korpisalo