Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils: Game Preview and Discussion

The Hurricanes take on the New Jersey Devils this afternoon as they try to remain perfect on their five game road trip.

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Game Notes

• The Hurricanes come into the fourth game of a season long five game roadie with a perfect record. They’ve recorded three wins and two shutouts, their only blemish came in Buffalo as they allowed the Sabres to earn a loser’s point in an overtime win.
• The Devils hosted the Minnesota Wild yesterday in New Jersey. The Wild came out on the winning side of a 4-2 game.
• Devils goaltender and longtime Hurricanes tormentor Keith Kinkaid is confirmed to start tomorrow. He’s an impressive 7-2-0 with a .942 save percentage and 1.87 goals-against average against the Hurricanes in his career.
• Tonight’s matchup is the third of four between the teams this season. The Devils will be in Raleigh for the Hurricanes’ final home game on April 4th.
• The Hurricanes are 1-1-0 against the Devils this season, both winning and losing in regulation.
• Both Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney are solid against the Devils in their careers — Mrazek is 4-1-0 with a .918 SV% and a 2.02 GAA, while McElhinney is 5-2-0 with a .945 SV% and 1.50 GAA.
• Haydn Fleury was reassigned to Charlotte yesterday after spending the last two games with the team on the road.
• John Forslund is in Nashville today for the national NBC game, which is resulting in some announcer shuffling today:

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Hurricanes Projected Lineup

The Hurricanes didn’t take a morning skate today, so it’s likely that you can expect to see the same lines as Friday night. Seeing as how McElhinney earned a second start after he shut out the Penguins, it seems likely that Mrazek will get the call today in the same scenario. We’ll update these as we learn more closer to game time.

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

Petr Mrazek

Curtis McElhinney

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Staal (IR upper-body)

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Devils Projected Lineup

The Devils also won’t skate this morning come off a game yesterday. There’s a very real chance that we could see former Hurricanes first round Ryan Murphy in action tonight in a Devils Jersey. Murphy was traded from the Wild to the Devils on January 30th and was called up from the AHL yesterday before their afternoon matchup. He spent the game in the press box, but he’s expected to draw in tomorrow on the second leg of a back-to-back.

Marcus Johansson - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri

Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Joey Anderson

Jesper Bratt - Pavel Zacha - Drew Stafford

Brett Seney - Kevin Rooney - Kurtis Gabriel

Andy Greene - Damon Severson

Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy

Mirco Mueller - Eric Gryba

Keith Kinkaid

Cory Schneider

Injuries and Scratches: Taylor Hall (IR upper-body), Sami Vatanen (upper-body)