Carolina Hurricanes vs. Nashville Predators: Lineups and Game Discussion

Coming off a road loss to the New York Rangers and a Thanksgiving holiday, the Carolina Hurricanes will be back in PNC Arena Friday night to host former Canes head coach Peter Laviolette and his Nashville Predators. The Canes will be looking to get back on track after a comeback effort against New York fell short.

Both teams will be playing the front end of a back-to-back Friday night, as the Canes and Predators will head down to Florida after the game (the Canes to Tampa, the Predators to Sunrise to face the Panthers).

Andrei Svechnikov has had the hot hand for the Hurricanes, as the second-year forward is on a nine-game point streak. He has picked up assists in the last four, and now leads the Hurricanes with 28 points on the year.

Here’s how Rod Brind’Amour’s squad will likely line up Friday night in PNC.

Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Warren Foegele
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Ryan Dzingel - Lucas Wallmark - Martin Necas
Brock McGinn - Clark Bishop - Jordan Martinook

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Joel Edmundson - Brett Pesce
Jake Gardiner - Haydn Fleury

Petr Mrazek
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Erik Haula (knee), Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy)

The Predators have not been playing their best hockey as of late, as Nashville is just 3-6-2 in the month of November and recently snapped a six-game losing streak.

Nashville has won two of its last three though, as the Predators won back-to-back games over the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues, before dropping an overtime game to Vegas.

The Predators don’t have anyone with more than 10 goals on the season, with Filip Forsberg and Nick Bonino at that mark. Roman Josi leads the team with 24 points, thanks to 17 assists.

The Preds haven’t announced a starting goalie, but Juuse Saros has started the last three for Nashville. Saros is 3-5, with a 3.13 GAA and .891 save percentage. With Saros’ recent workload, there’s a good chance the Canes face Pekka Rinne Friday night on the front end of the back-to-back. The 2018 Vezina Award winner has a 3.06 GAA and .889 save percentage this season.

Here’s how Laviolette should lineup his team Friday night:

Filip Forsberg - Ryan Johansen - Calle Jarnkrok
Daniel Carr - Matt Duchene - Mikael Granlund
Rocco Grimaldi - Nick Bonino - Craig Smith
Austin Watson-Colton Sissons-Mathieu Olivier

Roman Josi - Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm - Dante Fabbro
Dan Hamhuis - Yannick Weber

Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros

Injuries and Scratches: Viktor Arvidsson (lower body), Kyle Turris (healthy), Matt Irwin (healthy)