Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets: Thursday Lineups and Game Discussion

The Hurricanes and Blue Jackets will wrap up a four-game series in Columbus Thursday night, with Carolina looking to carry its momentum from an impressive 3-0 win Monday night.

Rod Brind’Amour will go back to Alex Nedeljkovic in net, as the young goaltender who posted a shutout Monday earned another start. It’ll be the first time the Canes have used the same goalie in two straight games since the end of February.

Columbus took the first two games of this four-game stretch in Raleigh, though the Canes did secure a point in each loss. The Hurricanes got to points Monday, and will now look to finish the miniseries with six points in four games.

Dougie Hamilton is the Hurricanes player with the biggest milestones to watch out for Thursday, as he looks to extend his 12-game point streak, which is already the longest in franchise history for a defenseman. Hamilton is also at 99 career goals, so his next tally will be a special one.

With Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck still out with injuries, here is how Brind’Amour’s squad is expected to line up Thursday in Ohio:

Nino Niederreiter - Sebastian Aho - Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Brock McGinn - Jordan Martinook - Warren Foegele
Cedric Paquette - Morgan Geekie - Steven Lorentz

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury - Jake Bean

Alex Nedeljkovic
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Petr Mrazek (right thumb), Teuvo Teravainen (concussion symptoms, IR), Vincent Trocheck (upper body)
Taxi Squad: Jake Gardiner, Joey Keane, Max McCormick, Beck Warm

The Blue Jackets’ lineup is expected to remain unchanged Thursday, with Joonas Korpisalo back in net for John Tortorella’s team. Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus’ other goalie, missed practice Wednesday with a non-COVID illness, and his status is unknown.

Korpisalo let up three on Monday, stopping 25 of 28 shots faced. For Columbus, Monday’s shutout was the first against the team since the beginning of the month.

Thursday’s game will be the seventh of the season between Carolina and Columbus, as the teams won’t meet again until the final weeks of the regular season on May 1. To this point, the Canes and Blue Jackets both have three wins in the season series, with Carolina at 3-1-2 and Columbus at 3-3-0.

Here’s how the Blue Jackets will take the ice Thursday:

Oliver Bjorkstrand - Kevin Stenlund - Patrik Laine
Max Domi - Jack Roslovic - Cam Atkinson
Boone Jenner - Riley Nash - Nick Foligno
Stefan Matteau - Ryan MacInnis - Eric Robinson

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov - David Savard
Dean Kukan - Michael Del Zotto

Joonas Korpisalo
Elvis Merzlikins

Injuries and Scratches: Mikhail Grigorenko (healthy), Scott Harrington (healthy), Gus Nyquist (shoulder, IR), Emil Bemstrom (lower body), Brandon Dubinsky (wrist, LTIR)
Taxi Squad: Zac Dalpe, Alexandre Texier, Cam Johnson