Carolina Hurricanes vs. Detroit Red Wings: Lineups and Game Discussion

The North Carolina State Fair has come and gone, the Halloween treats have been handed out, and the weather has turned cold. October is in the rearview mirror, and what a month it was. With a win against the Calgary Flames, the Carolina Hurricanes (8-3-1, 17pts) tied the franchise record for points (17) in October (‘05-’06, ‘07-’08).

Tonight’s game is the third out of a four-game homestand for the Canes. Prior wins against the Blackhawks and the Flames are due in no small part to Andrei Svechnikov’s scoring touch. The 19-year-old Russian has exploded with four goals over the last two games. Two of those were of the game-winning variety, and one was almost certainly the goal of the year for the Canes - if not the entire NHL. Something to watch for tonight: in games where Svechnikov has scored a point, the Canes are a perfect 6-0.

Petr Mrazek will get the start against his former team, and the lines should be little changed from those used against Calgary.

Here’s how the Canes are expected to line up:

Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Warren Foegele
Ryan Dzingel - Erik Haula - Martin Necas
Brock McGinn - Lucas Wallmark - Brian Gibbons

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Jake Gardiner - Brett Pesce
Joel Edmundson - Trevor van Riemsdyk

Petr Mrazek
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Martinook (core muscle), Haydn Fleury (healthy)

Tonight, the Canes face the Detroit Red Wings (4-8-1, 9pts). Similar to the Canes, the Red Wings are also coming off of a victory, although theirs snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Injuries to Danny DeKeyser and Luke Glendening have put the Red Wings in a tough spot early in the season. The team is undergoing a rebuild under new GM (and Red Wings legend) Steve Yzerman, so expectations were already low before the eight-game losing streak, which took up most of October.

This is the type of game where the special teams really favor the Canes. The Red Wings rank 24th on the PP and 27th on the PK (The Canes are 13th on both). Another weakness for Detroit is playing from behind. Detroit has gone 1-4-1 when giving up the first goal, while the Canes are 6-0-0 when getting on the board first.

The Red Wings expected lines:

Tyler Bertuzzi - Dylan Larkin - Darren Helm
Andreas Athanasiou - Valtteri Filppula - Anthony Mantha
Brendan Perlini - Frans Nielsen - Taro Hirose
Justin Abdelkader - Jacob de la Rose - Adam Erne

Patrik Nemeth - Filip Hronek
Joe Hicketts - Mike Green
Trevor Daley - Madison Bowey

Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier

Injuries and Scratches: Danny DeKeyser (lower-body), Luke Glendening (hand)