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A road trip that will cover almost two weeks and more than 7,000 miles begins tonight in Edmonton as the Carolina Hurricanes pay their only visit of the season to the Edmonton Oilers.
Vital Statistics
| Category | Hurricanes | Blue Jackets |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Hurricanes | Blue Jackets |
| Record | 21-7-3 | 13-13-7 |
| Goals/Game | 3.23 | 2.54 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.48 | 3.12 |
| Shots/Game | 31.52 | 28.70 |
| Face Off Win % | 54.4% | 46.2% |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 30.6% (1st) | 14.8% (26th) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 82.9% (9th) | 74.0% (26th) |
| ES Corsi For % | 53.04% | 46.16% |
| ES PDO | 100.96 | 99.42 |
| PIM/Game | 07:21 | 06:43 |
Goaltender #1
| Category | James Reimer | Joonas Korpisalo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | James Reimer | Joonas Korpisalo |
| Record | 12-4-1 | 8-10-5 |
| Save % | 0.909 | .900 |
| GAA | 2.68 | 2.98 |
Goaltender #2
| Category | Alex Nedeljkovic | Elvis Merzlikins |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Alex Nedeljkovic | Elvis Merzlikins |
| Record | 7-2-2 | 5-3-2 |
| Save % | .930 | .912 |
| GAA | 1.96 | 2.91 |
Game Notes
- Tonight is the 79th all-time regular season meeting between these two clubs, who entered the NHL together as part of the WHA merger in 1979. Carolina is 27-37-2 with twelve ties against Edmonton, and have only won ten games in Edmonton over the past forty years.
- Of course, that does not include the win the Canes picked up in Edmonton in Game 4 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. You might remember how that series ended.
- However, recent history has been much kinder to the Hurricanes, who swept the season series last year against the Oilers.
- Nino Niederreiter wouldn’t mind if a little luck would break his way, and a game against the Oilers might be just what the doctor ordered. Niederreiter scored four goals in the two games against Edmonton last season, including a pair in the Canes’ road win at Rogers Place, and has seven goals and 13 points in 20 career games against the Oilers.
- Sebastian Aho’s hat trick on Saturday moved him to the doorstep of his 100th career goal, which he will reach with his next tally. He had five assists in the season series last year.
- Aho’s shorthanded goal into the empty net against the Wild was his seventh since the start of the 2018-19 season, tied with the Coyotes’ Michael Grabner for most in the league over that span.
- Jaccob Slavin sits third in Hurricanes franchise history with 333 consecutive games played. We normally wouldn’t mention this, except for the fact that the club record is held by the man who will be behind the opposing bench tonight: Dave Tippett, who played 419 straight while a Whalers defenseman from 1984-89.
- There aren’t many teams that have held Connor McDavid under a point per game, but the Hurricanes (and specifically Slavin, who has gotten the assignment in nearly every game) are one of the few. McDavid has registered one goal, five points and a minus-5 against the Hurricanes, but of course he’s only half the equation and the other half has been quite good: Leon Draisaitl has five goals and ten points in eight career matchups.